How kidnappers of Okonjo-Iweala's mum killed 72-yrs-old woman

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 — PAGE 3

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Tony Blair to Jonathan: Provide security for Nigerians! *Asks govt to give opportunities to the masses

BY OLAYINKA LATONA & EMMANUEL ASUQUO

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he insecurity challenge facing the nation echoed in Lagos yesterday when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told President Goodluck to provide security for Nigerians. Blair also asked the Nigerian government to put opportunities in the hands of the masses.

But Jonathan said that there is hope for the country notwithstanding the challenges of the transformation programme of his administration. Blair and Jonathan spoke at the opening ceremony of the Rock Cathedral Metropolitan Church of Christ, Lagos.

“There is need for safety and security of the people,”the former British prime minister said.

According to him, “the society flourishes when the people feel a sense of freedom, when they feel free and have sense of security.”

In apparent reference to the transformation agenda of the Federal Government, Blair said: “For total and

stable national transformation to take place in any country, there is need for the people to be happy and the need for government to provide adequate power supply, construct new roads, eradicate polio, ensure job creation and do other things that make life meaningful.

“Nigeria should be hopeful because of its people; Nigeria will be built by the strength and dedication of Nigerians. There is no progress in the midst of violence. People of the same faith can come together, learn to love one another and see one another as humans”.

Jonathan, in his speech at the occasion, tasked Nigerians on the need to collectively work towards the attainment of peace in the country, adding that the country is in the process of attaining transformation.

The president described the present challenges confronting the nation as a sign of transformation.

Assuring that his administration will not rest in its efforts to ensure peace and tranquility in the country, he

said transformation cannot be effective without passing through some challenges.

According to him, challenges are a prerequisite for attaining total transformation.

Jonathan’s words: “Nigerians should be rest assured that whatever challenges we are experiencing now, there is always hope at the end of the tunnel. We will get over our challenges by God’s grace. Transformation is like a butterfly that passes through some stages which entails some pain. But let us be rest assured that the current discomfort that the nation is expressing now will soon be a thing of past. There is hope for us. When we work hard we will have Nigeria of our dream”.The president appreciated the efforts of religious bodies in the country, and called on religious leaders to preach more of peace and love and shun violence and hostility.

Rev. Paul Adefarasin, Senior Pastor of the Rock Cathedral, said there was hope for Nigeria in spite of the challenges facing the country.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 — PAGE 5

How kidnappers of Okonjo-Iweala’s mum killed 72-yr-old woman Continued from page 1 they did, even after receiving N13million ransom. Findings revealed that her abductors had planned to collect the entire N200million they demanded before changing their mind, to free her following a disagreement in the kidnappers camp.

Prof. Okonjo was deemed lucky after one 72-year old Mrs Reginat Obi Daity, a resident of Ogwuashi-Uku, also allegedly kidnapped in the Delta community by the same gang, was murdered allegedly because the ransom paid on her was considered paltry.

The gang was said to have demanded N10 million ransom for the release of victim, Daity, but got N2 million.

Infuriated, the kidnappers reportedly shot the woman dead.

Some members of the law enforcement community believed providence played a crucial role in the release of Prof. Okonjo by the kidnappers since a ‘paltry ransom’- N13 million out of the N200 million demanded – was also paid in her case before an expalace guard, Chiejine Onochie, who allegedly masterminded the abduction, panicked and called off the operation.

Onochie’s action was said to have cost him his own share of the N13 million ransom paid.

His alleged partners-incrime simply asked him to look for another victim to be kidnapped and be compensated from the proceeds.

Outstanding ransom

The palace guard, Sunday Vanguard was told, immediately zeroed-in on Daity, the 72-year- old woman, whose son, a Lagos-based customs licenced clearing and forward agent, was, in his calculations, wealthy.

TENSE 24 HOURS IN US

Final shootout, then Boston bombings suspect caught

BY TONY NWANKWO WITH AGENCY REPORTS

F

OR just a few minutes, it seemed as if the dragnet that had

THE FACES OF BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECTS: Tsarnaev brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan, before their shootout with the US police late last week

And that marked the beginning of the deadly kidnapping saga involving the Daity.

She was allegedly kidnapped in March 2013 by the gang.

Two days later, she was shot dead after the gang had collected N2 million ransom out of the N10 million they initially demanded.

Their anger was that the N8 million balance was not forth-coming. The victim’s decomposing body was found in a place called ‘the Evil Forest’ in Edo State.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, on Monday, announced the bursting of the gang and the arrests of Onochie, the alleged mastermind of Prof Okonjo and Daity’s kidnapping, aged 32, and Chukwuma Okoh, 31.

According to Manko, following the arrests, the officer in charge of the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Superintendent Abba Kyari, was directed to go after the gang leader, identified as Jideofor Ogbue, but also known as Marvelous.

Three Lagos SARS teams were, according to security sources, then deployed to Delta, Edo and Rivers States and they arrested Marvelous, 22, in his hideout in Port Harcourt.

SOLUTION

Marvelous was thereafter used to arrest five other members of his gang identified as Michael Ojeabulu, 23; Endurance Oke, 22; Ibrahim Abubakar, 28; Buhari Amajola, 27; Hassan Husseini, 29, in Delta, Enugu and Edo States.

Marvelous told Sunday Vanguard, last week, that the gang’s modus operandi after kidnapping relatives of wealthy people was to use the victims to extort.

The alleged gang leader narrated: “In cases where the victims relatives refused to cooperate, Peter, a gang member yet to be arrested, would either kill or harm them. He told me that he was doing that in

retaliation for the police killing of his brother who, he said, was an innocent man. I tried stopping him but he would not listen. He is highly temperamental; everyone in the gang avoids him. He was the one who shot the 72-year-old woman when her rich son refused to pay us the balance of N8million ransom we demanded.

Madam Okonjo was lucky that Onochie and Okoh panicked; maybe because of the heavy presence of security men at OgwuashiUku at that time and they asked us to free the woman which we did.”

*Details of the suspects statements next week

We want amnesty, N-Delta oil bunkerers tell FG

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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IL bunkerers and illegal refinery operators in Niger-Delta, yesterday, demanded for amnesty and reparation from the Federal Government for them to stop oil theft in the region.

They said in a statement by their spokesperson, White Tamana, obtained by Sunday Vanguard, that their call was sequel to the on-going arrangement by government to grant amnesty to members of the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The group also called for the release of its members arrested by government for involvement in oil bunkering.

It admitted that

bunkering activities of its members in recent times led to the shutdown of AGIP in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State and reduction in daily production of petroleum products.

It, however, warned: “We will continue to participate in the illicit trade until the Federal Government offers us amnesty and reparation or indemnification for our property, such as the refineries, boats, and houses being destroyed by the government.”

According to the group, ‘’We expect government to encourage and complement us for coming up with this lucrative inventory skills to help government create millions of jobs for Nigerians”.

Echocho’s suit stalls Kogi PDP reconciliation

T

HE Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has called off talks on the Kogi State PDP crisis.

Anenih, who also heads the reconciliation committee of the PDP, cancelled a meeting between the factions of Governor Idris Wada and Jibrin Isah Echocho.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that the motive of the Anenih-led team was to

urge Echocho to withdraw his suit challenging the election of Wada but the Echocho group said its case awaits the determination of the Supreme Court.

In the suit for determination before the Supreme Court, Echocho is asking for an order setting aside Wada’s swearing in and for an order directing INEC to conduct a fresh election pursuant to theJanuary 27 judgment of the apex court.

shut down a metropolitan area of millions while legions of police went house to house looking for the suspected Boston Marathon bomber had failed.

Weary officials lifted a daylong order that had kept residents in their homes, saying it was fruitless to keep an entire city locked down. Then one man emerged from his home and noticed blood on the pleasure boat parked in his backyard. He lifted the tarp and found the wounded 19-year-old college student known the world over as Suspect No. 2.

Soon after that, the 24hour drama that paralyzed a city and transfixed a nation was over.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ’s capture touched off raucous celebrations in and around Boston, with chants of “USA, USA” as

residents flooded the streets in relief and jubilation after four tense days since twin explosions ripped through the marathon’s crowd at the finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 180.

The 19-year-old — whose older brother and alleged accomplice was killed earlier Friday morning in a wild shootout in suburban Boston — was in serious condition Saturday at a hospital protected by armed guards, and he was unable to be questioned to determine his motives.

U.S. officials said a special interrogation team for high-value suspects would question him without reading him his Miranda rights, invoking a rare public safety exception triggered by the need to protect police and the public from immediate danger.

President Barack Obama said there are many unanswered questions about the Boston bombings, including whether the two men had help from others.

Plateau: 2 killed, 1,000 rendered homeless

BY TAYE OBATERU

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VER 1,000 people have been r e n d e r e d homeless in two villages in Riyom local government area of Plateau State following an invasion on Friday night by unknown assailants who torched their houses.

Two aged women were said to have been killed and about 30 houses burnt in the attack on Dakum and

Jol villages.

The attack is believed to be a continuation of the hostilities between the Berom and Fulani which has resulted in an upsurge in attack and counter attacks in recent weeks.

Majority Leader in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Daniel Dem, who represents the area, described the killings and burning of houses as saddening and said the villages have been deserted as the people fled for safety.

Students stab lecturer to death

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

YET to be identified students of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, on Thursday night, stabbed a senior lecturer of the school, Mr. Anthony Abimaje, to death during a riot that broke out on c a m p u s .

An eye witness said the lecturer, who was on his way to pick his wife and daughter who sells provision at the school centre, came to the scene of the riot when he was stabbed in the stomach by the students.

Investigation revealed that Amebija was a strict

lecturer who was fond of refusing bribe to award marks to students which apparently put him in the ‘black book’ of the warring s t u d e n t s . ”On sighting him, the students forgot their quarrel, stopped his car, dragged him out, turned the fight on him and stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach and left him bleeding on the ground”, the eye witness said.

Amebija, who taught research methodology and entrepreneurship before his death, was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

....As 7 die in auto crash

S

EVEN persons yesterday died while one other sustained serious injuries in an accident that happened at Gaba village along Lokoja Kotonkarfe - Abuja h i g h w a y .

The accident involved a truck with registration number LSR 721XB and

a Golf car with registration number GYA 96 AA. An eye witness said the accident happened when one of the vehicles overtook dangerously and, in the process, rammed into the other vehicle, killing the victims on the spot and injuring one.

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APC copied our manifesto — PDP

BY HENRY UMORU

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SHETTIMACONDOLES: L-R: Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; her husband, Dr Kayode Fayemi; and Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, during a condolence visit by the the Borno Governor to Ekiti State on the demise of the deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, in Ado-Ekiti... yesterday

OMO Art Exhibition: Three students emerge winners Jeremiah Ochalefu of

BY ALADE AROMASHODU

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N a bid to improve ed ucational standard in Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria Plc, maker of OMO detergent, has rewarded three Nigerian students, monetary prizes at an Exhibition and Award presentation of OMO

Art Competition 2012, Lagos edition last week.

Master Justin Okor of Duro Oyedoyin Primary School, Surulere, Lagos emerged 3rd and carted away with N30,000 cash prize; Etim Okon Emma of New Wine Montessori School, Lagos came 2nd, won cash prize of N50,000 while Master

Ahmed Memorial Nursery/Primary School, Agege, Lagos, emerged 1st and carted away with star prize of N100,000.

Speaking at the presentation, the Brand Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr. David Okere, noted that the competition featured display of the best OMO Wrapper Designs in all the participating states.

ATIONAL Leader ship of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday accused the yet to be registered All Progressive Congress, APC of copying its manifesto, just as it stressed that opposition political parties were in deep slumber.

The PDP also said that it was not in any way afraid of the probe of the activities of its leaders since 1999, but was quick to ask the opposition to ‘’prove its self by taming the regime of corruption in the few states it controls as a demonstration of its fidelity to the anti corruption cause.”

In a statement signed yesterday by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP

noted that what the APC has put in place as a manifesto was a duplication of its own manifesto.

The PDP however boasted that the opposition APC will wake up eve of 2015 only to discover that

Allegations against Delta leaders dismissed

BY GAB EJUWA

D

ELTA leaders have de bunked allegations of oppression, intimidation and marginalization against some leaders and ethnic groups in the state, saying Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan apart from running a government based on honesty and fairness, is also

Case for speedy passage of Traditional Medicine Bill

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stakeholder in herbal medicine development and practice, Mrs. Quincy Olasumbo Ayodele, has urged the National Assembly to fast track the passage of Traditional Medicine Bill which, according to her,

the PDP has won the election, adding that it was laughable that ‘’the opposition thinks that victory which only hard work begets will now cheaply be offered them by chance and perhaps, media bombast.”

will help to regularise the industry fully, and enhance excellent integration of traditional medicine to the existing health care system in Nigeria.

Quincy, while commending government for its efforts, explained the need for the passage of the bill.

propagating peaceful coexistence through interethnic capacity building among residents in the state.

The leaders spoke in a statement by the Director of Communications of The People’s Movement, Mrs. Ibifuro Tatua, in Abuja.

They dismissed the positions of rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the Delta State Chairman of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Mr. Chukwugozie Ezeagwu, Chief David Omoru and others on the performance of the Uduaghan led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government, saying the government has provided the basic infrastructure to stimulate growth and development in the state.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 7

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

Oshiomhole and the frustration of Nigeria’s justice system Dear Sir,

T

HE altercation and near exchange of blows between the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, on March 12, 2013 at Aso Rock Villa has indeed attracted public attention. I had reason, the other day, to check the publication of that incident in one of the national dailies and when I could not trace it, someone suggested I go to the internet. Not wanting to subject myself to much research, I just googled Oshiomhole vs. Adoke and you will be amazed at the wealth of articles and opinions that I saw.

Most of the articles and opinions dwelt on the morality of the whole affair questioning why such top public servants should engage in what they considered “disgraceful conduct”. Most, of course, did acknowledge that the Minister of Justice did over-reach himself by commenting on the sensitive issue of the murder of Governor Oshiomhole’s private secretary with such levity, but they still thought the Governor overreacted. They argued that while it was wrong of the AGF to have brought up such matter at that forum, the Governor should have bottled his feeling until later.

Only a few, unfortunately, addressed the real issue. Only a few saw the real issue of general lack of concern for human life that is prevalent among top functionaries of government both at the national and local levels in our dear country. One contributor particularly spoke of the need to prevent the office of the AGF from being manipulated by politicians or being politicized. To me, that was the closest one to the head of the nail. The issue, from all I have read concerning the police investigations of the murder of Olaitan

Ayorinde, is that the police have not really shown enough seriousness in prosecuting those accused of the crime. The passing of the case file (s) to the office of the AGF may have been a deliberate act to delay the case, perhaps until frayed nerves are sufficiently calmed or interested parties are frustrated enough to forget it. It has happened so many times and discerning Nigerians cannot be deceived.

But, the question still remains; why did Adoke decide to bring up that matter at that point in time and in such a careless manner? Considering how long the case file had been in his office and he sat on it, was he trying to justify his action or accuse the Edo State Judiciary of being

incompetent? Well, whatever was in his mind when he did it or whether or not he was playing politics, the point remains that the action of the AGF exposed the insensitivity of our leaders to the plight of the ordinary Nigerian.

Even so, how many murder cases like Olaitan’s have really been solved or even gotten serious attention. I have tried to provide answers to the aforementioned questions and the only thing that keeps recurring in my mind is insensitivity.

I doff my hat for Oshiomhole's prompt response. I have a feeling even now that the AGF must have thought that the weight of his office would protect him and the Governor would be so intimidated that he

would just smile and let the matter go or even tender apologies on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecution of Edo State. He must have forgotten, that once a Comrade, always a Comrade, Governor or no Governor.

There is nothing anyone can do about it now. I hope, though, that it serves as a warning to all those entrusted with our safety to show more concern and be conscious of the feelings and pains of those who lose dear ones in this our country of growing insecurity.

Mr Charles Afe Ikhaghe, an author, writes in from Lagos.

The re-introduction of sanitary inspectors: Is Abia inclusive?

Dear Sir,

S

ANITARY inspection has been a primordial phenomenon in the country. Its existence could be traced back to the pre-war era when houses were visited by sanitary inspectors whose duties were, among others to make sure houses and their surroundings were kept clean and tidy by their occupants.

As a result of this development people became conscious of the cleanliness of their environment as any defaulters were made to face severe penalty from the inspectors. Such scenario ushered in a salutary atmosphere in the country and in the people’s way of living.

However, the re-introduction of this outfit should not be extended to Abia State as similar outfits are already existing in the state, especially in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

Presently, there are health inspectors in

the health department of Aba North/South local governments of the state. This group of inspectors visit buildings, especially the face me I face you bungalows biannually.

Unlike the pre-war era, sanitary inspectors, each of their visits to any yard attracts an inspection fee, whether the yard is found guilty of their sanitary offences or not. If eventually they discover any fault, the occupants are issued with abatement notice. In the long run the whole matter is settled at their office after payment of money that is never receipted.

Another set of health inspectors is contractual in nature. That is, they are under contract arrangement with the state government.This group issue abatement notice to every yard, usually around the months of November and December every year. And each yard is expected to come to their office for their own payment. Non compliance attracts police arrest whether the arrest is legal or not is what remains a puzzle to me

They also have the Abia State Environmental and Protection Agency to contend with. This body that is under contract with the state government force every yard to pay certain amount as sanitation fee but fail to carry out their own duty of refuse disposal for the residents.

So bringing in another team of sanitary inspectors to the state, especially in Aba who are likely to toe the line of the existing ones would compound their ordeal. I therefore appeal to the federal government not to introduce it to Abia State, especially in Aba for over the years Aba residents have been writhing in pains in respect of bad roads which has drastically affected their means of livelihood.

Nkemakolam Gabriel Port Harcourt gabchiz56@yahoo.com gabchiz56@gmail.com

PAGE 8 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

Igbo presidential candidate: A step in the right direction

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind “If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” -- Desmond Tutu.

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quick disclaimer: I am a Muslim and no, I am not a terrorist and I do not have, never will have or harbour terrorist tendency and I wholeheartedly condemn any act of violence, killing and segregation in the name of Islam.

Good, so that we are clear, very clear from the word go.

The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, put it so well that Boko Haram “does not represent Islam and that it is not a Muslim organisation.”

Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammed Saad Abubakar III is empathetically optimistic that amnesty for the Boko Haram members is possible despite the recent rejection to the move by the federal government.

And it seemed that the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardi-

nal Onaiyekan also would prefer that that Nigeria, works towards a resolution rather than through the path of disintegration. He said that Nigeria has what it takes to ride the wave but only with proper leadership,transparency and sincerity.

On the proposed amnesty for Boko Haram, the Cardinal urged the government to bring all the stakeholders to the roundtable since the offer was a “healthy” development.

I agree, the will has got to be there, we collectively have got a lot to lose.

Who in their right mind is going to take the fall out if we fail as a nation to resolve this. Everyone will be affected and no one is going to be unscathed should there be all out violence.

No, we cannot have a twonation state, nor is Nigeria going to have an Islamic protectorate state. By all means, let there be a dialogue but one that is forward looking and in the best interest of all Nigeri-

taken, its earliest chance for the presidency might not come until 2015 when the winner of the 2007 elections finishes his tenure. And, if the PDP wins, the South-South is already poised to become the favoured zone.

Now with the selection of Kalu as their presidential flagbearer, the Igbo would appear to have fulfilled the first requirement for a successful onslaught on the presidency

,

And that means waiting until 2023. Only god knows how many of those alive today and active in politics can look forward to living as long as that. Yet, the matter of Igbo presidency remains one of the nation’s unfinished agenda because it will have healed the remaining wounds left from the civil war of 19671970. Every honest and patriotic Nigeria must ask the question: “When will it be the Igbos’ turn?”

It was with that question in mind, while bearing in mind all the three reasons which I believe have impeded Igbo pres-

its merits under other circumstances, but given the ethnical jungle, called Nigeria, and the succession arithmetic above ( i.e 2015; then 2023 etc ) that is a posture which the Igbos can ill-afford in their campaign. They need as the candidate someone who will tell the rest of Nigeria: “Enough is enough”.

And despite his known and unknown demerits as a candidate, that is what Orji Kalu had been telling the country since 2000. So, at this point in time Ndigbo needs a candidate like him.

Second, if indeed the Ohanaze Ndigbo and

ans.

Definitely the threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, that they will commence bombing of mosques and killing of Muslim clerics as from May 31 over the terror campaign and killing of Christians by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, adds another dimension to what is already an intolerable situation.

So what is the alternative?

Apparently not those who are threatening to take up arms and retaliate on what they see as one religion against the other and one tribe against the other. I wish it were that simple

it seemed that they were able to kill, maim and terrorise at will, the government obviously did not get a handle on the horrors.

Those who are that directly involved have lent their support and appealed to Boko Haram to seize the opportunity to take advantage of the proposed Federal Government amnesty programme and drop their arms. One of the widows from the Borno massacre, Malama Falmata Ibrahim, said: “Women have suffered most in the ongoing Boko Haram crisis; we have lost our husbands, parents, children and even fiancés. We are appealing to the sect to, please, take

,

J

AMES Macpher son was the grandfather of Sir John Macpherson the second to the last Governor General of Nigeria under colonial rule. Governor Macpherson handed over to Sir James Robertson who eventually became our last British ruler. As the saying went in those days, “the British established the empire in a fit of absentmindedness but it took the Scottish people, like Macpherson and Robertson, to make it work”.

That was while it lasted.

The sun started setting on the British Empire when India became independent in 1949.

Many of us who knew what good governance was under colonial rule, up to October 1, 1960, would seriously not mind if the British will once more take over this country. There is hardly any old geezer alive on that day who would not vote to return the country to Britain in free referendum.

Although James Macpherson did not have Indigbo of Nigeria

in mind, their attempts to achieve the presidency in the past could be described as a series of battle cries which invariably has ended in their capitulating to northern wishes. It started right from 1959 and continues till today.

However, I do not intend to go into a long history of the various failed attempts by our brothers and sisters in the South East to present and stand solidly behind a candidate since the great Zik of Africa made his last attempt in 1983.

My focus is on more current issues. And my position is based on three cardinal beliefs I have held about the Igbo and the quest for the presidency.

First, the Igbo have never overwhelmingly supported one candidate.

Second, there are too many political mercenaries whose only goal in life is to be given appointment as Ministers, Special Advisers or as Directors of Federal parastatals.

Third, Ndigbo has never been tenacious enough about its quest for the presidency. Together these factors have placed the third largest ethnic group in a position where, if care is not

,

“They came forth to war, but they always fell”.

James Macpherson, 1736-1796.

idency, that the recent developments with regard to the selection of Governor Orji Kalu engaged my mind. So, it was encouraging that after all the palaver over who Ndigbo will support, the major Igbo groups have settled on Governor Orji Uzo Kalu. His selection over Professor Pat Utomi, certainly one of the best presidential materials ever, can be justified on two grounds.

First Utomi had never seen himself as the “Igbo candidate” preferring instead to be seen as a “detribalized” Nigerian.

That posture might have

Our young people and majority of Nigerians do not have a stake in their future. What they have been lured into has been fractions, and made to fight for nothing

and it is not. The seed of unrest has been brewing for some time, corruption, poverty and marginalisation has just help fuelled the fire.

So when I heard that the government was going to offer the group amnesty, my first reaction was “NO!” I mean when they decimated a whole community and

,

advantage of the planned amnesty and initiate talks with the government.”

As it is, in a statement by Sheikh Muhammad Abdul'aziz,from Boko Haram , they have already been in dialogue and consultation with the Borno State Government and a delegation of the Northern

the other Igbo groups had chosen Utomi as their flag bearer, most probably a lot of nonIgbo people now supporting him would have walked out. Either way it was not in his interest to seek the endorsement.

And it was probably a blessing in disguise that he did not get it. The Pat Utomi I know is not cut out for that role.

Now with the selection of Kalu as their presidential flag-bearer, the Igbo would appear to have fulfilled the first requirement for a successful onslaught on the presidency. However, there is still a lot of work to be done even on that score. There must be total mobilization of Igbo votes nationwide; in every state and local government including ward level; in order to send a powerful statement to the rest of the country – even if Kalu does not win this time.

Even if eighty per cent of all Igbo votes were cast for Kalu, it might take the presidential election to the second ballot and make Igbos the people to determine who becomes president. And from that standpoint they can exact the sort of concessions that would change the arithmetic in their favour.

The second and the third reasons for past failure are more difficult to address. But, they must be faced fully if the years of the Igbo in the wilderness of power will not extend beyond 2023.

The question is: How? (The above article was published in 2003 and it has become a perennial

ritual of the Igbos every four years when people begin to beat drums of election activities)

State Governors' Forum (NSGF). It is a good development and perhaps, we can see the end to this tragic chapter in Nigeria’s history.

Our young people do not have a stake in their future, nor has majority of Nigerians. What they have been lured into has been fractions, and made to fight for nothing. We have fed them on greed, corruption, mob mentality, ignorance, intolerance, violence and aggression.

This fight is not theirs, their generation had no choice, but we have embroiled them in it ,we have bequeathed the young nothing but trouble, unrest, insecurity, inadequate education, no substantial future, use them to spread fear, terrorisation, intimidation and miseries. And the government does not seem to address the core of the problem so if the call for a dialogue is real, by all means both party should take it and make every effort to create a lasting change.

Now, the talking has to begin, there was the allusion that the government has indicated that in order for the dialogue to commence the group have got to come out of the shadows. All the posturing need to stop and let the talk begin on the proviso that there should be a cessation of violence . Being willing to talk is not a sign of weak-

ness; it is a sign of strength.

We have to get it right or else we would have to defend our decision to sell off the birthright.

LOST IN ACTION: IGBOBI COLLEGE 1958-62 SET “We miss you”. Segun George, Papa Sagoe, Biodun Doherty, Babs AkinJohnson, Oriyomi Benson etc.

It was exactly 50 years in December since we left Igbobi College after completing form five. As we are getting ready to celebrate our 50th anniversary, we have been trying in vain to locate some of our classmates.

Some have left us permanently, and may their souls rest in eternal peace. To the best of our knowledge these were: Ademola Adesina, Layiwola Adewole, Yinka Fadipe, O. Olisa, Ayo Ositelu, Femi Solanke and Niyi Willoughby.

However those who have disappeared without trace include: Ayo Aitalegbe; Femi Awoyomi; Folorunsho Abiodun; Layiwola Bamidele; Deinde Green; Derin Idowu; Damola Martins; Tony Onyeahara; Femi Ogunbanjo; Idahosa Ordia; Bisi Sotunbo; and Segun Owolabi. They are all either close to 70 or just 70 and above. Ask whoever you can trace to get in touch.

Dead or alive, any information about the whereabouts of these old Igboians will be highly appreciated. I am the unofficial Record Keeper for the class. Thank you.

V i s i t www.delesobowale.com

Bombing in Boston

Two bombs stuck by the finish line at the Boston Marathon this week and it turned what should have been a sporting event into a bloody scene. It left three dead and over 170 injured.

What was clear to everyone was that in spite of the tragedy, the emergency units swung into action, they ferried the injured to the casualty to wait ambulances.

Even the runners made their way to the hospital to donate blood because they know that the hospital would need it.

The U.S. President Barack Obama was very proficient and effective and within hours of the bombing, he spoke to the nation, he showed that he had control of the situation and he promises to restore a sense of order and safety to a shaken nation. One of the reassurances anyone in the country needed to hear, he said:“We will find out who did this; we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

You could not have wished for a strong, decisive leader at the helm. Can our President assure us that our lives are worthy to be protected just like those in the U.S.?

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 9

t does not appear I enough to medical doctors whose recent ac-

UCH: Give unto Caesar, what belongs to him place the activities of the Ministry in line with the manifesto of the ruling party. In other words, the position of a Minister or Commissioner is a policy making one which does not require the specific knowledge of a particular profession. Such a policy maker is only expected to rely on strong professionals for the actualisation of the policy.

Lawyers and doctors in particular do not allow this

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HERE are 2 main enviable profes sions in Nigeria Law and Medicine. It is only a lawyer for instance, that can serve as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The same is true of the position of Commissioner for Justice in a State.

However, lawyers can be Ministers and Commissioners of other sectors - Education, Foreign Affairs and Commerce etc. Similarly, it is only a medical doctor that can be a Minister of Health or a State Commissioner for Health notwithstanding that the health sector has several disciplines. This scenario where one privileged profession enjoys undiluted monopoly of prominence in a multi-disciplinary sector is however not a common practice across the globe.

In many other countries, the Head of a Ministry does not necessarily have to be a professional in any of the subject areas of the Ministry. The logic is that the post being a political one should be handled by a politician who is better positioned to

od of the interim government, when Julius Adelusi Adeluyi-a first class pharmacist, served as Secretary for Health. But for the brevity of his tenure, no one was sure of the game plan of the doctors. Again, there was the reported uneasy calm in the sector following the nomination of Dora Akunyili- the effervescent antifake drug crusader as a Minister until she was deployed to the Information

The UCH management ought to spare us all the agony of a breakdown in our health sector by letting the Medical Laboratory Scientists be

to happen in Nigeria. In the legal field, no other professional has ever headed our Justice Ministry. In the health sector, the doctors have always been up there except for the obscure peri-

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Ministry. Thus, lawyers and doctors have sustained a well fought war of ascendancy in their sectors in Nigeria. So, is enough not enough?

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

Femi Aribisala and his errand boy God contained in some ancient text labelled “holy book”, are beyond the crucible of ratiocinative scrutiny.

The provenance of religious intoxication in Nigeria is so far-reaching and intolerant of criticism, to the extent that if care is not taken the critical or scientific attitude, the attitude of dispassionate reasonableness, the idea that the best way to acquire knowledge of the world is through rigorous scientific investigation and, more importantly, the no-

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N his essay entitled “The God Who Does Not Exist”, published in Sunday Vanguard of March 31st, Pastor Femi Aribisala responded to an article I wrote several months ago in which I declared arguments for the existence of an intelligent divine creator or First Cause invalid. More pointedly, I defended my conviction that God does not exist, and cited briefly the views of some philosophers and scientists to back my claim. I would have ignored Aribisala’s opinionated response, but doing so might create the erroneous impression in the minds of readers that probably he is right or that I find his arguments (insofar as he marshalled any) so compelling that I decided, as the old idiom says, “to let the sleeping dogs lie”.

Again, because of serious dangers inherent in the intellectually lazy, mercantilist, and spiritually hollow religiosity preached by swanky Pentecostal pastors nowadays and the extremely important task of promoting a critical attitude towards religion among Nigerians, it is imperative that one should react to the arrogant and intellectually toxic proclamation that certain propositions and beliefs, because they are

speak up now against the assault on rationality and scientific reasonableness by loquacious religious bigots before it is too late. Femi Aribisala claims that in a discussion about the existence of God “Douglas Anele tries to dazzle me by dropping the names of philosophers like David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Bertrand Russell. But I need no such shenanigans to confound Douglas’ atheism”.

This remark strikes me as completely ridiculous – Aribisala thinks so highly of himself that I would be interested in “dazzling him”!

But why would I want to dazzle anyone by referring to thinkers who have debated seriously the existential

Well-reasoned criticism is the lifeblood of the intellect; every genuine intellectual cherishes it because epistemological progress is not possible without criticism

tion that the only way we can meaningfully overcome our existential problems on a sustainable basis is by co-operative human effort rather than by dependence on an imaginary deity, will soon be considered a blasphemous sin by a vast majority of Nigerians. Therefore, since the future of our country is at stake, sceptics and unbelievers should step out and

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status of the entity denoted by the word ‘God’? Intellectual honesty and integrity demand that one should always acknowledge and make appropriate reference to the source of one’s ideas. Certainly, it would have been dishonest to pretend that the arguments I marshalled against belief in God are new, knowing full well that our ideas and knowledge, including the

tions show that having clinched the substance; they do not also wish to leave even the crumbs to other disciplines. This is indeed what is playing out in the nation’s first university college hospital (UCH) in Ibadan where a medical doctor has just been appointed as Director of Laboratory Services. It is an appointment which is likely to grind the nation to a standstill as from May 03 2013, if the UCH authorities do not reverse it. Already, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (ALMSN) has alerted the nation of such imminent breakdown of industrial harmony in our health sector as a result of the development. Other associated groups- the National Union of Pharmacists, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, and Research Institutes etc have also issued a 2-week ultimatum to the UCH management on the subject.

Meanwhile, the ALMSN has made a fervent claim that the appointment of the medical doctor as UCH’s Director of Laboratory Services is a clear usurpation. Their National President, Dr. Goodwill Okara drove home the point with the argument that the position exists only in the statutory scheme of service for Laboratory Scientists. It is therefore not a position for a medical doctor more so as it is not provided for in languages we speak, were made possible by others; which implies that no one is an epistemological Robinson Crusoe. In fact Aribisala is the one name-dropping to demonstrate his acquaintance with philosophy.

But it is very doubtful whether he read and digested the relevant works on the question of God’s ontological status by the philosophers he mentioned, because if he did he would not have grossly misconstrued my intention in referring to their views. I am not surprised that Aribisala considers my atheism “foolish” or feels “…very sorry for people like Douglas Anele who maintain that God does not exist”. He is a Pastor of one of the new-fangled Pentecostal groups that arrogantly flaunt their noisy and self-indulgent righteousness.

One of the major failings of Pastors like Femi Aribisala is haughty and indecorous dismissal of views critical of their narrow-minded religiosity. No one who dispassionately reads the essay he was alluding to would consider the author foolish or feel very sorry for him. Aribisala breached one of the fundamentals of rational discussion which requires interlocutors to be civil to one another and avoid emotionally-loaded denigrating expressions that might detract from the substance of the debate. Oftentimes he presents his views ex cathedra, with an overconfident take-it-orleave-it attitude that reflects a man cocksure that his opinion is always right since it is based on The Holy Bible. At any rate, since I do not accept the idea of a divinely revealed authorita-

the scheme of service of physicians. If so, why is it possible to consider a medical doctor for it? The answer appears to lie in the allegation that the medical doctors have the support of the Minister of Health because he is one of their own. s the nation ap A proaches May 03, 2013, no one needs a sooth-

sayer to predict either the high degree of chaos the subject would generate or its resultant hardship on the citizenry. Our Health Minister, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu should therefore take urgent steps to avert the danger. It is a duty he owes the nation. On its part, the UCH management needs to appreciate that the main goal of the hospital is health care for the people. When an organization like the UCH is set up to execute a task, it should naturally divide the task into parts and assign them to its different components on the basis of division of labour. That is not all. The sharing of the task should also be premised on the principle of specialization where each relevant actor is assigned a specific role on the basis of his professed expertise and competency bearing in mind that no matter how mundane any assignment is perceived, some people are better endowed than others in executing it.

Utmost care must however be taken to ensure that the way the task is shared is not allowed to blur the fundamental principle that all tive text, I always endeavour to support my positions with well-articulated arguments, and there is nothing wrong if someone disagrees with them. As a matter of fact given my training in philosophy and my keen interest in logic, I welcome criticisms especially when they are based on sound reasoning and facts, not on name-calling or mischief.

Well-reasoned criticism is the lifeblood of the intellect; every genuine intellectual cherishes it because epistemological progress is not possible without criticism, given that humans are incurably fallible and the quest for truth demands constant reexamination of what we claim to know.

However religion, which is Aribisala’s forte, thrives more on faith than criticism.

Well, foolish or not, I maintain that the arguments presented thus far for the existence of God are fallacious, and that the theory of evolution and contemporary cosmology provide the best explanation for the origin of the universe and of living things. The problem with Aribisala and dogmatic religious apologists generally, especially in scientifically backward countries like Nigeria, is that they are unwilling (and, frankly, sometimes unable, because of intellectual incapacity) to study and appreciate with open mind the latest amazing discoveries in molecular biology, cosmology, physics and information technology (including artificial intelligence). They are still living in the cognitive prison built from ancient literature containing the activities, dreams, fears, hopes, aspirations and hallucinatory experiences of

those involved have the same goal. Thus, it is expedient to prevent the tendency whereby some departments hold on to a perception that others are of little or no value to the organization, by ensuring that everybody’s job is functionally related to the specified corporate goal. If the UCH operates this basic management principle, it would have no business asking a medical doctor to guide laboratory scientists in their own profession. Rather, it would run UCH as a network typically consisting of different parts with organizational messages flowing among the parts. Consequently, it would find that the roles of the different groups are mutually reinforcing and that the malfunctioning of one part can have grave adverse effects on the entire process; making it clear that everyone is useful.

Accordingly, a nation’s health care delivery system is a goal which doctors alone cannot achieve. They should therefore learn to accord recognition to other relevant contributors.

Thus, the UCH management ought to spare us all the agony of a breakdown in our health sector by letting the Medical Laboratory Scientists be. Oh yes, Nigerian doctors who are the only ones that can be Health Ministers or Commissioners as well as the only Chief Medical Directors in all hospitals should not also grab what belongs to another Caesar.

superstitious peoples of bygone age proclaimed as the word of God. Now, even a cursory examination of what Aribisala presented as a token of his relationship with God throws into bold relief the intellectual bankruptcy of contemporary religious apologetics in Nigeria.

All Aribisala offered as evidence for the existence of God is an invisible errand boy generated by his subconscious mind very suitable for children’s television programmes such as “Tales by Moonlight” or “Sesame Street”. Very likely he embellished his story to make it appear impressive so that he can attribute them to his errand boy God. Even so, assuming his cloud cuckoo land story is completely true, it can be better interpreted non-theologically, that is, naturalistically. People all over the world have received fantastic help from total strangers without bringing God into the picture.

Consequently, Aribiasla’s hallucinatory theology deluded him into thinking that his little God who spends time on petty matters like securing a building and a car for him is enough for belief, but my standards are far higher than that. As Richard Dawkins remarked in his masterful critique of God, The God Delusion, believers must provide better arguments that would fatally undermine the established infrastructure of science, particularly biology and cosmology, which very strongly indicates a universe without a divine, human-like, creator before they can be taken seriously.

CONCLUDED.

PAGE 10 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

Battle for APC franchise shifts to court

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

Battle taken to the temple of justice

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Chief Tom Ikimi leadership in the country since 1999, saying that the African Peoples Congress was on a rescue mission.

Legal Adviser of African Peoples Congress, Mr. Kingsley Nnadi, said the acronym should not be the problem, but it should be the name, adding that any other group making claim to the acronym APC had not made any official request to INEC which, he said, his African Peoples Congress had made.

He debunked the allegation that the African peoples congress was hurriedly floated by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to scuttle the registration of All Progressives Congress, stressing that if the PDP had done well, there would have not been any need to float his APC.

‘No mortal can stop our registration’

AS the struggle for ownership of the acronym APC continues, African Peoples Congress boasted that no mortal could stop the registration of the party.

Acting National Secretary of the association, Sa’id Balogun, in a statement, accused a federal commissioner with INEC from the South West of leaking official information to the opposition political parties that had been on the merger talks.

INEC disqualifies African Peoples Congress Despite the claim by the African Peoples Congress to have fulfilled all necessary requirements before INEC, the commission, on March 25, 2013, rejected its application, saying the association breached Section 222 (a) of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution as amended.

Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu Confirming the rejection of the application, the then Director of Public Affairs of the commission, Emmanuel Umenger, said: “The commission has written to this political association and had stated in very clear terms that they are in breach of section 222 (a) of the constitution with the additional explanations stated in the letter.

“The commission also observed that the submission made on form PA 1 does not contain the addresses of the national officers of the political association as stipulated. It means this

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S the aphorism goes, “Politics is a game of intrigues.” It is a game that requires both physical and mental alertness.

Since the announcement by the three opposition parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, as well as a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, on February 6, 2013, to form a mega party under the name, All Progressive Congress, with APC as its acronym, to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the merging parties have known no peace.

In an electrifying atmosphere at the Maitama residence of the ACN chieftain and chairman, Joint Merger Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, after a meeting with about nine governors that won their elections on the platform of the merger political parties, and perhaps with the mindset that the parties will take over the political landscape of the country, Ikimi told the world in a press conference that the parties had agreed to merge and adopt the name, APC. Unknown to the merger group, while still basking in the euphoria of the seemingly political points it had scored, a political association, African Peoples Congress, another association sharing the APC acronym, took the country by surprise as they applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be registered as a political party.

This development brought confusion, accusation and counter accusation from the merger group against INEC as the commission was accused of working in concert with the PDP to scuttle the ongoing merger plan. The merger group, after pointing accusing fingers at PDP and INEC, said they owned the intellectual property of the acronym having, in a press conference that was widely published, announced that they proposed to merge under the name All Progressives Congress, with APC as the acronym.

On the other side, the African Peoples Congress, with relatively unknown political personae, in a colourful ceremony at its Apo headquarters, Abuja on March 14, 2013, unveiled its logo, constitution and acronym.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Acting National Chairman of the group, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, lamented what he described as poverty of

controversy, the Secretary of CPC merger committee, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, said there was no controversy, claiming that what was seen as controversy was laid to rest when INEC rejected the registration of the African Peoples Congress.

“There is no controversy over the acronym. INEC has rejected the application of the purported African Peoples Congress. Let them go to court if they wish, that is their business. INEC has said that they did not meet the requirements. Let them go to court and prove that they have

AS the struggle for ownership of the 'franchise' APC continues, African Peoples Congress boasted that no mortal could stop the registration of the party

association has the responsibility to prove, because these are the things the commission has observed and the law says if you do not meet any of these requirements, you will not be registered as a political party.”

Ikeagwuonu accused the merger political parties of being behind the rejection of his group’s application.

“Unfortunately, INEC may have pandered to the whims and sentiments of the merger party who evidently are still grappling with the frustration of their inability to do the simplest task expected of an association scheming to be registered as a political party,” he said.

All Progressive Congress reacts Commenting

on

the

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met the requirements,” Obla said.

“We are forging ahead, we are holding our different conventions, CPC has slated her convention for 11th of May in Abuja , ACN has fixed 18th of April and ANPP has also fixed.

After we have concluded our conventions, we will submit our documentation to INEC. INEC is expected to recognize us within 30 days.

“We have intellectual property of the name. We told them on the 6th of February.

In law, there is what is called constructive notice; we gave them constructive notice, so, by law, we are right. The name was reported; even the INEC spokesperson reacted when we announced the name and he acknowledged it.”

Still in a spirited attempt to reclaim the acronym, African Peoples Congress has dragged INEC to the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking an order of the court to compel the commission to register it as a political party.

In the suit, number FHC/ ABJ/CS/224/2013, which is yet to be heard, the association is praying for a declaration that the Defendant (INEC) lacks the discretion and/or has no power to refuse to register an association as a political party once the conditions stipulated by the said defendant for such registration are met.

Other reliefs sought were a declaration that the plaintiffs being the principal members and promoters of the association known as African Peoples Congress have met all conditions of eligibility for the registration of African Peoples Congress as a political party; an order commanding/directing the defendant to register the association known as and called the African Peoples Congress as a political party forthwith; and an order of prohibition prohibiting the registration of any other association known as and called African Peoples Congress or having the acronym ‘APC’ as a political party pending the hearing and determination of the suit; and an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from registering any other association or known as and called African Peoples Congress or having the acronym ‘APC’ as a party.

As the battle now shifts to court, political observers are keenly watching how the African Peoples Congress will prove their case that they fulfilled the requirements as stipulated by the Electoral Act for registration as a political party.

INEC claims that the association did not supply information on the residential addresses of its national officers although the association claimed that the office addresses of its officials were contained in the form it filled and submitted to the commission.

The issues of intellectual property of the acronym APC which the merger parties claimed belong to them and the constructive notice as argued may likely be decided.

Political analysts argue that the merging political parties may likely be compelled to change their merger name, while the African Peoples Congress may be granted ownership of the acronym APC, depending on how it ventilates its case in court.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 11

DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY IN KATSINA

'How we built N3bn Govt House with accrual from bank lodgements'

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done by different people with different thinking. Sometimes, there is a conflict like accommodation, power supply, quarters and government activities are ever expanding. For example, among the first generation universities, University of Ife appears to be the best because it was the only university that started from a virgin land, a development concept from the beginning, therefore it could go in any direction it wants to go. That is why it is better than most of the other first generation universities. Now we have a chance here to do it (new Government House) properly. We have a governor who is not thinking about now. We are thinking of the next fifty years.

As a matter of fact, all our projects here are in for the future.

They are there to provide the platform for growth and development. We are not seeing now and immediate solution.

What the government is doing is to have a platform that next government can build upon and the movement continues. The new Government House is about to be completed. There are 28 projects within the Government House going on now. We are going to complete it in another few months. The new Government House is to provide a befitting place and impression for the state. Why do you think we like to celebrate the entrance of our towns? The first impression lasts longer. But, more importantly, a working environment that will get the best in whoever is working there. If you look at the design of Aso Rock, the position itself is designed as a confluence.

Again the entire funding of the Government House is free of charge. Funny isn’t it? But that is the truth.

How? My principal is a manager of resources. He manages men and materials so that he gets the best for the state. The way the funding of the place is done is like this.

We receive funds just like any state from the Federation Account, we manage it such that accrual from the investment is now pumped into the Government House project. The governor has generated over N8 billion in the last six years accruing from constant generation of the investment. So the Government House is being given to the people of Katsina free of charge. The target of the project is about N5 billion but we have spent about N3 billion.

Why build another Governor ’s Lodge in Abuja when you could possibly manage the former one?

The condition we met it was not just habitable. It had developed cracks and was in a dilapidated condition. It had

Mustapha Kankia.....My target is to deliver projects within time reached a stage where the Governor ’s Lodge was no longer Governor ’s Lodge because the governor could not really spend the night there and at, the same time, repairs go on, because it is not only about sleeping there but also working there and attending to state issues. So it became uninhabitable. So it was now either to completely knock it down or remodel it. And so we remodeled it. So it is not a new building as you claimed, it was a remodeled building. We spent about N400 million on it. And don’t talk about the cost because

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Democracy seems to be yielding huge dividends in Katsina State where lodgements made by the Shema administration in banks provided the funds to build a new Government House. The state Commissioner for Works, Mustapha Kankia, tells the story in this interview with Wale Akinola.

HE Ministry of Works appears to have the biggest chunk of the state government budget. Why? I think it is so because of the nature of what the ministry does,mostly capital intensive projects. Of course, capital intensive projects would take a slightly larger percentage of the budget. This is so because a single kilometre of road can cost so much. This ministry is not only into roads, we are in charge of housing, transportation and road maintenance. For all these three, we have agencies, parastatals. We have the Katsina Housing Authority, there is the Katsina State Transport Authority, and we have Katsina Roads Maintenance Agency; so if you put all these agencies together, under the ministry, you find that it is quite a huge amount of resources that go into our activities.

What were those challenges at the time you came in?

When I came in two years ago, there were quite some challenges and, naturally my target was to improve on the situation. My major drive is to leave here a much better place. We are dealing with a large number of contractors. My target is to deliver projects within time, cost and specified quality. These are the targets I set for this ministry so that we deliver our projects within stipulated time. There is a section that supervises quality and ensures prompt payment. At the moment, we have projects that have been completed and awaiting commissioning by His Excellency. This is the only state where a project stays on queue for it to be commissioned. Just last week, we finished phase 10 of the ring road projects. By this week, we are finishing another one The new Government House, why is government building a new one when there is a functioning one?

The current Government House, as you can see, is one inherited from the colonial masters. It was actually the district officer ’s residence then. Then successive governments were just adjusting one thing or the other. As a matter of fact, the office of the deputy governor, that was the exact office of the district officer at that time. So subsequent governments were just adding one structure today and another tomorrow. At the end of the day, it is a collection of structures

ing the roads in your state?

Generally, the state government is interested in partnering with any agency that will bring development to the people. Let me give you a classical example of the extent of commitment of the state government towards that policy.

You will recall that the president established 11 universities recently, one of which is in Katsina State. The one in our state was the first to matriculate students. The reason is simple.

The governor committed over N1 billion on the project. He

Generally, the state government is interested in partnering with any agency that will bring development to the people

that amount is something that can be spent by the governor for a couple of years in a rented building. If you calculate the amount you would have paid on rent for say four years in Abuja, you will agree with me that it is a wise financial decision on the part of the governor. The lodge is now in place such that all his staff can lodge there comfortably. Even the Northern Governors Forum and the Governors Forum meetings are held there sometimes, that tells you how habitable it is now.

There have been arguments over federal roads in Nigerian states.

What type of collaboration do you have with the Federal Government in fix-

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gave them a secondary school to take off. It was remodeled as classrooms, staff quarters were added. He provided hostels and immediately gave them certificate of occupancy. He pumped over N1 billion into the project as the state contribution to the federal school. The students are in their second year.

Another one was the expansion of the Katsina airport. It was an aerodrome. The previous administration started the expansion programme. My principal completed it with a new runway of 3.6 kilometer long, 100 meters wide, enough to carry any Boeing 747, which is the international standard. He told the Federal Government, ‘I

can do this and refund me later.’

Of course the approval took time but that is the kind of commitment I am talking about.

Currently, the state government is looking at the Zobe Water Dam Scheme. The dam is one of the largest dams we have. It was started more than 30 years ago.

And Governor Shema has been trying to convince the Federal Government, ‘come please, let us talk, I can do this and then you reimburse me later ’. There is another one, Jibia Irrigation Scheme. It is Federal Government owned. It was lying fallow and it could be used for irrigation but, it had technical problems of pumping machines as channels through which you carry water to farm lands were broken. The governor came into the picture, supplied the generators and, as I speak with you now, it is working and thousands of thousands of hectares of rice is being grown there. We have done eight township roads which are Federal Government owned.

There are two bridges as you enter Katsina that collapsed recently, the state government offered to construct another one but the Federal Government turned it down . I guess they saw our request as a challenge and insisted they would do it themselves. They are presently doing it. So the state government is ever willing to collaborate with any government agency provided it is about development.

What are you doing on housing?

My ministry is saddled with the responsibility of providing affordable housing through the Katsina State Housing Authority. From 2007 to date, we have so far built 1,772 housing units which were segmented into three. There is Makira Housing Estate of 272 housing units.

There is Barin Housing Estate of 500 units and there is each local government area housing units.

We have 34 local government areas here building 30 housing units each. And, in the next two years, we intend to build 2,000 units more. All these houses are discounted by 50% so that a twobedroom for example which should cost N4 million is going for N2 million and, out of the N2 million, you just pay 10% and the remaining will be deducted from your salary for the next 20 years.

How have you been coping with pressure of the office?

Of course there is pressure of the office, no doubt about that, but there are some basic management principles that if you adopt, it will ease the tension . I am here hale and hearty. I have treated all the files on my table today. When you give limit of authority and responsibility, all you have to do is to make sure you cross check all the time.

This is also my principal’s style.

He is very prudent in management and disciplined in terms of budget implementation.

If the project is not in the budget, don’t just bother your head taking it to him, because you will be wasting your time. He won’t look at you. And his style is working. When you adopt such style, you can achieve a lot within a short space of time. We have not borrowed a Kobo both within the country and outside to execute all these projects.

PAGE 12 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

‘Orji is clear about where he is taking Abia in 2015’ CHIEF Amadi Nweke, popularly known as Udo Abia, is a lawyer and politician in Abia State. A member of the ruling PDP, he contested for the party’s ticket in 2007 to run as Abia governor. He hails from Ukwa/Ngwa land which Governor Theodore Orji has promised to cede power in 2015. In this interview with ANAYO OKOLI, he, among other things, clarifies some issues on Ukwa/ Ngwa/Abia South ahead of the 2015 elections.

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OVERNOR Theodore Orji has consistently promised to hand over the governorship seat to an Ukwa/Ngwa person in 2015.

What is your take on this? Do you believe that the governor will make good his promise?

You are absolutely right, 2015 is round the corner. It is also right that Governor Theodore Ahamaefule Orji has honestly promised to cede the governorship to an Ukwa/Ngwa person. We have heard a promise like that before but he is a man of his words and he is someone we have worked with very closely and we believe him.

The governor has promised to cede power to your people but there is this problematic issue of whether it will go to Ukwa/ Ngwa or Abia South. This clarification is necessary because of the unique composition of Abia South Senatorial District.

His Excellency was very clear when he made this promise to hand over to an Ukwa/Ngwa person; if he wasn’t clear about it he would have said ‘I am handing over to Abia South’. He said ‘I am handing over to an Ukwa/Ngwa man’. Ukwa/Ngwa has an area of benefit to all of Abia South and half of Abia Central. If you go with the issue of Abia South, then you leave out the major three local government areas of Isialangwa North, Isialangwa South and Osisioma out of it, and they are the major part of Ukwa/Ngwa area. So the issue does not actually, have anything to do with the snatorial zoning at all. It is to a people and the people referred to are the Ukwa/Ngwa who cover the local governments in Abia South and Isialangwa North, Isialangwa South and Osisioma.

There is this belief that Ukwa and Ngwa people hardly agree and work together when it comes to politics. How are the stakeholders of these stocks working to ensure that they come out with one objective this time to ensure that this project is actualized?

No, that is actually a myth. The Ngwa people and Ukwa people get on very well politically. I am sure you will remember not too long ago, when our wonderful brother, Senator Adolf Wabara became Senate president. The issue at that time was that the Senate seat was going to an Ngwa person and people had it that an Ngwa man won. But because there was a promise during the Obasanjo administration that Adolf Wabara was going to be made Senate president, the request was made to be Ukwa people and Ngwa people ceded the senatorial seat to them. How much more accommodation can you give to your brothers on the Ukwa side? And that is actually one other thing that people should look at this time. The number three position in the

country has gone to our Ukwa brothers. So I don’t think we have any issues or any disagreement on that and I am sure that they will also reciprocate in supporting their brothers and sisters in Ngwaland in ensuring that the governorship position does not become an over politicized issue when it comes to choosing the right candidate.

Are your people reaching out to them?

Of course the Ukwa/Ngwa people are speaking together and we are one group. The issue of reaching out does not come, we are together, we don’t have any need to reach out as though we are divided, we are not.

Traditional rulers are very important in politics; they are very close to the people who vote. And in Ukwa/Ngwa land, there is this long standing sharp division among the traditional rulers in the area, the Supreme Royal Fathers and the other group. Now, how do the Ukwa/ Ngwa people think they can achieve this governorship project when the traditional rulers are not talking with one voice?

It is one that has been a thorny issue for Ukwa/Ngwa people.

Gov. Theodore Orji And what is also true about it is that the division has nothing to do with the current governor.

The division started during the time of Orji Uzor Kalu, when, for political expediency, he found it necessary to divide the traditional rulers. We had only one Ukwa/Ngwa Royal Fathers’ Council, the body that united all the traditional rulers within

Ukwa/Ngwa land. Because they didn’t seem to work well with him, because of his style of governance, he set up a rival group which is a much smaller number and they were named Ngwa Supreme Royal Fathers. I did make an attempt during my contest in 2007 to bring the two sides together; it didn’t work at that time. But since the administra-

JONA THAN VS AMAECHI JONATHAN

Intrigues over the judicial sack of Rivers PDP exco

BY HENRY UMORU

A

new phase has apparently opened in the perceived rivalry between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi over the 2015 presidential election. Following the Federal High Court order which sacked the Rivers State executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to him, the Rivers governor is now poised for a battle of his life in the courts, not only to retrieve the party structures that have slipped away from his control as a result of the court judgement but also his political life.

Before the latest scenario, the polity had been polarised into what could be described as the Jonathan and Amaechi camps.

In an attempt to whittle down Amaechi perceived overbearing stance as Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led what could be termed a revolution and a new body, PDP Governors’ Forum, was formed with Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State as Chairman.

Prior to the formation of the

PDP Governors’ Forum, there was a misunderstanding between Amaechi and the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on the Port Harcourt waterfronts’ demolition. The climax of the misundertanding came during the First Lady’s two-day visit to Rivers State and Okrika, her hometown.

Trouble started as the governor tried to explain by video his school project in Okrika, saying there must be demolition of buildings to have space for the schools.

Mrs Jonathan was reported to have immediately cut in, grabbed the microphone and told Amaechi that he must reconsider the way he was going about the demolition.

The governor’s attempt to explain fell on deaf ears as the first lady to shouted at him: “Listen!, you must listen to me!”

In Amaechi’s camp, there is a thinking, as far as the feud with the president is concerned, that as the chairman of the NGF, the Rivers governor represents true federalism.

The governor championing of the review of the revenue formula that is skewed in favour of

•Gov Rotimi Amaechi the federal government obviously caused the frosty relationship.

Before the twist in relationship, Amaechi and Jonathan were very close, especially at the time the late President Umaru Yar’adua was sick and Amaechi was one of the governors who championed the doctrine of necessity that ushered in Jonathan as Acting President.

Then Amaechi delivered Rivers State for Jonathan during the 2011 presidential election.

Now the drums of the 2015 presidential election are beating and there is the insinuation that the Rivers governor may pair with a northern presidential candidate as Vice President in the election.

His former Chief of Staff and Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has joined the fray on Jonathan’s side.

After the sacking of the State

tion of His Excellency, Ochendo started after 2011 elections, we have seen that there has been a change of attitude of the Ukwa/Ngwa Royal Fathers’ Council. I have also reached out to them this year and the leaders agreed that they have no difficulty, no problems whatsoever with Governor T.A. Orji.

The governor is one person, but there are other stakeholders who have different views on this issue. Don’t you think that this may not be easy for your people and it may create an opportunity for the opposition to take power from your party?

Well, there is an adage that power is contested, it is not given. That is to some extent true.

Where you have the governor of the state as a member of the ruling party, it becomes a lot easier because he is the leader of the party in the state. Really it is not his decision alone but his decision is at least 60% of the sway, even if it is 50% of sway, it is quite a lot whichever way he decides to go. Ochendo has united our people politically and it is unlikely that when he decides with the leaders of the party to go a particular direction that the people are going to oppose him.

PDP Executive loyal to Amaechi, the new executive, swornin last week by the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur led National Working Committee, NWC is said to be loyal to Wike.

On Monday, an Abuja High Court, presided over by Justice Ishaq Bello, had sacked Chief Godspower Akeh led Rivers State Executive of the PDP loyal to Amaechi.

In his ruling, Justice Bello approved the election of the faction loyal to Wike and led by Felix Obuah.

By the judgment, the PDP leadership in Rivers has moved from the governor to the Minister of State. As a former Chief of Staff to Amaechi, Wike was a confidant of the governor before they fell out.

The state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, who said her principal was studying the judgment before commenting on it, said, “ we have heard the judgment and we are awaiting advice from our lawyers before making any comments”.

Protesting the sack of the PDP State Executive, federal lawmakers, stakeholders and leaders of PDP from Rivers immediately stormed Abuja to kick against the action.

The group said the ruling will not stand the test of time, describing it as “a travesty of justice and a broad day light judicial robbery”. It vowed to exhaust all legal avenues to seek redress in this matter.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PPA AGE 13

PROLOGUE

BY JIDE AJANI

V

Late Yusuf

AMNESTY FOR BOKO HARAM

The Price of Reckless Engagement leader should be tried. Government ignored the demand. This was 2010, a year when Jonathan had to begin his own plot to undo his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s zoning formular. The killings continued with reckless abandon and no one in government seemed to care. Sheer recklessness!

But some people outside government cared. Al Qaeda in Islamic

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isualize a prison cell! You may not have been a guest there or entered one before; but just visualize an 8 x 8 feet room with no proper ventilation; no bed; no chairs; maybe a two-foot wide slab, like a ledge, fixed to the walls of the room at a height of 25inches. What passes for ventilation is no more than a 2 x 2 widow with bars, no glass or wood covering – just five or six bars. Then visualize one alleged criminal, leader of a sect, the Jamaatul ahlil sunna lidawati wal jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, in hand-cuffs.

He was apprehended by the Nigerian military after a gun battle which lasted a whole weekend, some time in December, 2009, and handed over to officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF. There, right there in the police cell, he was killed in cold blood. Whether he was asked to turn his back, or whether whoever committed the act looked him straight in the eye, or whether he was told to run and then shot from behind, or whether there was indeed another gun battle there, the constant consequence of what happened thereafter was that he was killed. This, after the sect members had created maximum crisis in Yobe and Borno States that weekend of December 2009.

Nobody cared that a man had been killed extra-judicially at that time.

As far as the nation was concerned, it was good riddance to bad rubbish! But that was a reckless response from a largely reckless nation.

However, the recklessness did not stop there.

This was a time when the late Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua suffered his health crisis leading his aides to smuggle him to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment; a time when a clique within Aso Rock Presidential Villa appropriated Nigeria’s presidency and treated a certain Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a factotum that did not amount to anything (Jonathan was Nigeria’s seemingly putative Vice President); a time when there was controversy over the acceptability of the doctrine of necessity; and, also, a time when the brothers of Jamaatul ahlil sunna lidawati wal jihad were mourning the killing of their leader, Yusuf. The then National Security Adviser, NSA, behaved as if nothing significant happened because the primary concern then was how protect the health crisis of Yar’Adua. That was recklessness in high official quarters.

From that moment, members of the group that had become so scattered made a forced retreat while some others were held in detention.

Most of the remnants of the membership retreated to Yobe State. It was not obvious that there was a post-battle mopping up exercise.

Neither did it appear that there was any co-ordinated effort at engaging a policy of containment. Nigerians, being happy people, went about their businesses, happily.

And for the members of the sect, their attachment to Yobe State dates back to sometime between 2004 and 2007. Investigations by Sunday Vanguard within the intelligence community revealed that members of the group are very familiar with Yobe State. The group set up a base in Kanamma, a remote part of the state, from where the then seeming ragtag followers of the brotherhood operated. The camp was aptly named Afghanistan. The man in charge at that time, Mohammed Ali – Yusuf, founder of the sect, had new camp. traveled abroad for treatment. It Therefore, when the sect decided was from that camp that they were to re-group and launch, it was with first dislodged. But they only a vengeance. scattered; the group refused to Firstly, the group members invaddisband. Indeed, it waxed stronger ed the prison in Bauchi and set free by attracting more members. Before its members.

Yusuf ’s return, the group moved For regaining freedom, they from the camp and headed northpledged eternal loyalty to the group. wards, towards Maiduguri, the One of the first demands of the capital of Borno State, and set up a group was that the killers of its

On a sarcastic note, should Boko Haram accept amnesty, the Jonathan administration should take the added step of awarding multibillion naira contracts to leaders of the sect for the protection of Nigeria’s northern borders against any onslaught from alQaeda in Islamic Maghreb, AQIM

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Maghreb (AQIM), which has its North African headquarters in Algeria, cared so much that it got in touch and began collaborating with Boko Haram members. Although Sunday Vanguard could not establish the exact year, there was evidence, according to security sources, to suggest that the group sent some eight persons to Algeria to go and learn how to make Improvised Explosive Device, IEDs. From all indications, those they sent learnt well. They perfected the art of making IEDs and also passed on the

Continues on page 17

PAGE 14 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

BOKO HARAM AMNESTY

BOKO HARAM AMNESTY

Scratching the surface of a nation’s festering sore

•Boko Haram...Discordant tunes on amnesty

W

ith the setting up of a committee to handle amnesty for Boko Haram members and payment of compensation to their victims and the sect members rejecting the offer without looking back, there is suspicion that the government may have an interest other than merely seeking for elusive peace in the north.

Others believe the government is merely scratching the symptoms of the Boko Haram sect rather than delving into what brought it into existence.

Did President Goodluck Jonathan shoot himself on the foot in his current move to end the Boko Haram onslaught on the nation? Discuss!

Well there are two ready answers which betray an air of ambivalence.

- Yes! And no!

But either of these answers depends on where you’re coming from and from which angle you look at it.

There are Nigerians who are concerned that the Presidency ignored the major issues it should have considered as preconditions before contemplating the controversial amnesty to the dreaded Islamic sect, Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, BH. The non-

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BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

To them, the current effort by the government to persuade the sect leaders and their supporters to lay down their arms and embrace peace through the proposed amnesty programme, appears akin to forcing an unwilling horse to sip from the river, when it is not in the mood to do so

consideration of such parameters, they reason, is sure to hurt the system and, perhaps, make a mockery of the rapprochement President Goodluck Jonathan and his advisers are frantically jostling for with the virulent men.

To them, the current effort by the government to persuade the sect leaders and their supporters to lay down their arms and embrace peace through the proposed amnesty programme, appears akin to forcing an unwilling horse to sip from the river, when it is not in the mood to do so. They also see the offer as a subtle means to railroad the group to accept an amnesty they did not bargain for, as a step in the wrong direction, something that is certain to backfire. Those who hold on to that school of thought believe that it is the sect that should have sought

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the pardon after renouncing violence as was the case with the Niger Delta militants’ pardon. In June 2009, some of the region’s ‘bad boys’ had opted for amnesty and agreed to turn in their lethal weapons to the government as a condition for being pardoned for their atrocities against the nation’s interests.

While the approach was hailed by local and international agencies and observers, the current move by the government to tame the northern fighters appears to have been a right step in the wrong direction, aimed at the wrong target.

The reason is that even before the government completed the conceptual framework to offer the pardon, the potential beneficiaries had barked at the administration, saying they did nothing wrong to

deserve amnesty. The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, came out smoking the other day to lampoon the government, claiming that it was the Nigerian government and not Boko Haram that should be granted amnesty.

According to Shekau, it is the government that has been inflicting injuries on its members by killing Muslims in the land.

Shekau, in a 30-minute video translated into Hausa, Arabic and English, rejected the idea of a potential amnesty, threatening to deal with anyone who claims to represent the sect under the programme.

Shekau noted, “We are the one to grant them pardon.

Have you forgotten their atrocities against us?

“We are surprised that today it is the Federal Government saying it will grant us amnesty. Oh God is it we who will grant you amnesty or you are the one to grant us amnesty?

“What have we done? If there is room for forgiveness, we are not going to do it until God gives us the permission to do it. Have you forgotten your sin, have you forgotten what you have done to us in Plateau, the state you call Jos? We emerged to avenge the killings of our Muslim brothers and the destruction of our religion. Was it not in Plateau that we saw people cannibalizing our brothers?”

Before making its position public on the matter, another factional leader of the sect, Abu Dardam, had spurned the offer by the government, describing it as an insult. He claimed that the group rejected the offer because it did not recognize democracy as a form of government and the Nigerian Constitution.

According to Dardam, justice could only be guaranteed by the Shariya system of government as embedded in the Holy Quran.

The rejection of the offer by the sect leaders notwithstanding, the Federal Government on Wednesday named a 26-member panel to forge ahead with the process of ending the BH scourge in the land. The committee, which is headed by Nigeria’s Minister for Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a lawyer from Kebbi State. Under its terms of reference, the committee is expected to develop a framework that would lead to the disarmament of the fighting population of the sect and compensation for

Continues on page 16

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 15

‘Jonathan may be the last president of Nigeria if...’

SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

D

r Chris Ekiyor is the former National President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and currently the Caretaker Chairman of Patani Local Government Council of Delta State. In this interview, the Niger Delta activist faults the calls for amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect and warns that the people of the Niger Delta will resist any move to use the resources from the area to fund the amnesty. On the 2015 presidency, he says the people of the Niger Delta are unanimous in their decision that President Goodluck Jonathan should run for second term asserting that any attempt to stop him by the North will lead to the end of Nigeria.

Excerpts: The FFederal ederal Gover nment has announced a committee to look Government into the possibilities of granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect. As one of those who perfected amnesty for ex-militants in the Niger Delta, what is your view?

This is another bandwagon effect that is tearing apart our country again. Amnesty today is another word for quick money. I think it is a misplaced national priority to even think about granting amnesty to a bunch of people who, in all their activities, have shown criminality, have shown cold blood murder and have no focus or issue. And it is unfortunate to try to equate Boko Haram with the struggles of the Niger Delta. In the Niger Delta, a people, who were living peacefully and having their own livelihood, were traumatized by the Federal Government with its activities in oil exploration. Their land captured, their environment polluted from 1957 till date. And the people decided to say, enough is enough, you cannot take our oil and impoverish us. You cannot put 60 per cent of our oil wealth in the hands of northerners and our environment is not protected. You have to allow us the government and they were control our resources so series of meetings under the late that we can develop our place at the President Yar’Adua’s administration. pace at which we found our resourcNow, in accepting amnesty, the es. We are willing to pay tax to the country recovered economically to center as it is done every where that the tune of about 2.1million barrels oil was found’. That was what per day and you know what that caused the Niger Delta crisis. The means to the nation’s coffers. So, if Niger Delta struggle was a purposefrom that pool, money is taken to ful and ideology based struggle. That rehabilitate people, who so to say was the focus. Now, between 1996 admitted that it is our mother land, and 2003, of course, it became an we will now allow government all-comers struggle. Criminals who develop the region. Taking amnesty will go and steal on the streets will claim that they kidnapped because of brought more value to the government and it is now trying to oil. Between 2003 and 2007 it went reciprocate the gesture by training out of hand people in the region. because the military itself became a ’Militancy in the Niger Delta party to the process. different from Boko Haram mayBy the time the Federal Government hem’ was offering amnesty, oil had been But beyond the technicalities of cut down to 700 barrels per day by talking about amnesty for a group of the activities of the people in the people who are murderers, I think creeks. Insecurity in the region that government has misplaced its made oil companies to fold priority in terms of what it is saying. up. Before, the youths accepted Dialogue with the people, yes, amnesty, they sent representatives amnesty, no. Amnesty is not an exit including myself to dialogue with

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But beyond the technicalities of talking about amnesty for a group of people who are murderers, I think that government has misplaced its priority in terms of what it is saying

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window for criminals. These are people who have murdered over five thousand people in cold blood.

People are in churches, they bomb the churches, killing people who are equally victims of bad governance like them. Again, 80 per cent of these people are not Nigerians. So, if you are granting them amnesty, where will you take the resources for which you are going to reintegrate them? Is it the Niger Delta resources, our oil money to integrate criminals and murderers in the North? That money should be put on infrastructures across the country if the money is too much in the government coffers. ’Jonathan taking bullshit’ I am particularly worried that our president, in line with his broad nationalism, is taking too many bullshit from too many people. He is the most insulted president not because he has not worked, there is no president that has done better than Goodluck in the history of Nigeria, but people don’t seem to know because he is not a loud speaker, he does not embarrass people. ’Posterity will not forgive Jonathan if he fails to develop the Niger Delta’ President Jonathan is a broadminded Nigerian, he is trying to balance projects in all the regions and, in doing that, he has undermined his own region. So the Niger Delta people have started clamouring why should we not have more.

But again he is the President of Nigeria not for Niger Delta. It is now left for the Niger Delta members in the National Assembly to ensure that there are resources in the appropriate ministries such as the Ministry of the Niger Delta to develop the region. As it is today the

Ministry of Niger Delta is not being funded and that is why the Minister is frustrated. If you check the money they appropriated for the Niger Delta Ministry and that of Water Resources, you will see the difference. I want to also say that Mr President must not feel that if he develops the Niger Delta he will be blamed for it. Infact if he does not develop the Niger Delta posterity will not forgive him.

People committed themselves in developing Abuja because they have an agenda to develop the North. Jonathan is not weak as people are saying, no weak person can lead Nigeria. The problem is that this country is held by cabals and those people don’t want the development of the Niger Delta. So it is not Jonathan but a lot of people around him have their own agenda. ’Jonathan must run in 2015' We were in this country when youths were mobilized to Abuja, ‘Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha’, during the military rule, when all the five political parties endorsed one man.

We were in this country when Obasanjo wanted to go for third term.

Alameseigha and others were arrested. Yes, they may have been involved in corrupt practices but they became victims due to their opposition to the third term bid.

People are talking now because Jonathan is seen as a toothless bull dog. He is seen as being weak, but they don’t know that it is in that his weakness that he has his strength.

How can you see a president and say he should not contest again?

The choice to contest is his but if he decides to contest, nobody can stop him except the ballot. And if they feel he cannot contest, then we should all be ready to pack our luggage.

Goodluck may be the last President of Nigeria because a lot of predictions are in line. There is the provision in the amalgamation law which says that, if after hundred years we cannot co-exist, everybody can go his way.

These are signs of the end and we are happy about it those of us from the Niger Delta. The earlier Nigeria breaks so that we can go and rebuild our economy and our environment the better since Nigerians don’t know that Goodluck is a blessing and a builder. Nobody can stop Jonathan, we have said that he must contest and anybody who does not want to support us, no > problem. We will campaign throughout the nook and cranny of the country.

PAGE 16 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

Continued from page 14

•Jonathan: Helpless?

BOKO HARAM AMNESTY

Scratching the surface of a nation’s festering sore permutations in the north as to who among the leading politicians could be used to confront Jonathan and drive him out of his fortified palace come 2015 via the ballot.

While it is clear that the northern governors are united in the need to show Jonathan that they are against him for trying to repudiate a secret pact he entered into with them in 2010 to run for only one term of four years, it is still unclear if they can present a common candidate and stand by him when the time comes so as to achieve their purpose of returning power to the region.

The desire may just crumble like a pack of cards given the large number of persons who are known to have already signified interest to occupy the Villa and the fact that the political platform through which they can actualise their plan, is seriously and jealously being guarded by Jonathan’s trusted allies in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Unfortunately for the northern presidential agitators, none of the President’s trusted hands like Tony Anenih, Bamanga Tukur and the Chairman of the PDP GF, Godswill Akpabio, is willing to concede any space for any other Nigerian politician apart from their principal come 2015, given their utterances and kinetics so far.

The northern political gladiators, who are uncomfortable with the apparent political situation in the ruling party that Jonathan is consolidating the machinery towards giving him a seamless victory in 2015, may not be too excited to impress upon the BH sect leaders and members to come to the negotiation table, a plea that has become a refrain on Jonathan’s lips

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the victims of the violence within 60 days.

Presidential Media Spokesman, Reuben Abati, who unveiled the committee, said, “President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the constitution of a presidential committee to constructively engage key members of Boko Haram and define a comprehensive and workable framework for resolving the crisis of insecurity in the country.

The committee’s terms of reference will include developing a framework for the granting of amnesty; setting up of a framework through which disarmament could take place within a 60-day time frame, the development of a comprehensive victims’ support programme and the development of mechanisms to address the underlying causes of insurgencies that will help to prevent future occurrences,” Abati explained.

Not many Nigerians are however convinced that the plan would achieve the purpose for which it was hatched by the government. Those in this class, see the rush to offer unsolicited pardon to the sect as a ploy by the government to win the support of the northern region, which has been unsettled by the series of attacks unleashed by the group since 2009. They believe that Jonathan, who had earlier told the people of the region, during his March 2013 visit to Borno and Yobe States, that he could not deal with ghosts, was compelled by political interest rather than the altruistic quest for peace to change his mind and opt for amnesty, when the potential beneficiaries have not seen the need to surrender.

Those who are familiar with the problem, maintain that even the military high command, is of the opinion that the onslaught by the sect in parts of the north should have been settled militarily to serve as a deterrent to potential troublemakers in the country.

However, the military option was quickly overruled for political overture because of the strong belief by the protagonists of Jonathan’s 2015 re-election project that he could not confront the north militarily and still hopes to garner its support to remain inside Aso Villa.

Incidentally, the same comfort zone that Jonathan is fighting jealously with audacity to keep is what a typical northerner is working hard to retrieve from him come 2015. Most Northern leaders are angry that Jonathan would have overstayed at the Villa should he contest and win the next election.

That in itself, is something they don’t even want to happen and some have suggested that the BH attacks are premeditated and aimed at destabilizing the Jonathan administration so as to portray it as weak and incapable of providing the required leadership and direction for Nigeria.

That school of thought has even given rise to a number of

Angry Christian leaders across the north have kicked against the bid by the government to appease the BH sect with amnesty instead of whipping them into submission, as recalcitrant elements that deserve no pardon

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in recent times.

That, in itself, explains the continuous escalation of violence in some parts of the north despite the clarion call by the Presidency for cessation of violence in the region.

Even with the unfolding of the amnesty process, two policemen were slain in Wednesday in Kaduna.

A few days before then, gunmen had raided a police station in Adamawa and killed several persons in the state. Similar incidents occurred in Kano, Yobe and Borno, giving credence to the rejection of amnesty by the sect.

Angry Christian leaders across the north have kicked against the bid by the government to appease the BH sect with amnesty instead of whipping them into submission, as recalcitrant elements that deserve no pardon. They believe that the government must have been motivated by political gratification rather than the sheer search for peace and stability in the north.

According to the religious groups, the government should pay priority attention to the victims of the BH

attacks, rather than waste time and resources in seeking peace with those they call faceless persons.

The groups likened the Presidency’s action to a suicide mission, which could in the end consume the whole nation, and asked Jonathan to be cautious with the plan and not allow political gains to becloud his sense of reasoning.

The Bauchi State Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Joshua Ray Mains, described the federal government offer of amnesty to the Islamic sect, Boko Haram as a suicidal strategy

by President Jonathan for the 2015 election, saying the move would never achieve its goal for peace.

Mains said, “The issue of granting of amnesty to the Boko Haram group should not even arise in the first instance because up till today nobody can actually point out who members of this group are.

“Why should they be given amnesty? Are we congratulating them for the people they have sent to their early graves or are we encouraging them to continue with their acts so that other groups can take advantage of the amnesty and continue to disrupt the peace of the country?” he queried.

Lending his voice against any pardon for the sect, the Gombe Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Reverend Abare Kallah, said it would amount to a grave injustice if the government pampered the group with any pardon.

“We just want the President to stand on the right side of taking the

Continues on page 17

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 17

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THE PRICE OF RECKLESS ENGAGEMENT

In the instance of Niger Delta, there was palpable sobriety in the air when the militants were offered amnesty.

Yar’Adua did not start working on amnesty without feeling the pulse and seeking the support of leaders of the region

Continued from page 13 knowledge.

It was not until sometime in mid2011 (some 18months after the killing of Yusuf and when the sect had become deadlier, bombing the UN House in Abuja and the Police Force Headquarters there) that the Federal Government of Nigeria arraigned some policemen for the killing of Yusuf. Even at the time of writing this report, the case is enmeshed in a web of legalities that is only going to delay justice.

Make no mistake, the bestiality of the group cannot and should not be condoned under any guise and this piece is not about to make any case for such.

And this brings us to the amnesty proposal being worked on by President Jonathan!

On the face of it, with a long, hard look, Mr. President has embarked on a fool’s errand – pure and simple.

In a polity of clashing sociopolitical economic and religious interests, throwing the bait of amnesty at a dare-devil group only suggests one thing: A hopeless and helpless leadership. Whereas Sultan Saad Abubakar, who voiced it within a particular context, can be excused, jumping into the mix of amnesty, barely a month after the selfsame President Jonathan described members of the group as ghosts, only signposts a massive deficit in statecraft at the highest level.

In the instance of Niger Delta,

,

•Yusuf: Maintains hardline stance, rejects amnesty there was palpable sobriety in the air when the militants were offered amnesty. Yar ’Adua did not start working on amnesty without feeling the pulse and seeking the support of leaders of the region. In this case, President Jonathan appears to have engaged a panic nay pacifist mode when he made the push, though, he alone should not be blamed.

Enter the so called Northern Elders Forum, NEF. It was after the group’s meeting with Jonathan that amnesty for Boko Haram gained traction. Two weeks later, the same NEF came out with a shopping list,

BOKO HARAM AMNESTY Continued from page 16 right judgment about this thing.

It’s not about favoring one side.

“We are also wounded. If they are thinking that amnesty is going to be given to Boko Haram, I am sure that there is going to be another faction or group that the federal government cannot contend with,” Abare Kallah, noted.

While not condemning the offer outright, the Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, pointed out that the offer should have been preceded by dialogue and plea for forgiveness by the sect and not the other way round.

“I am not comfortable with the government’s decision because they are putting the cart before the horse.

Why can’t we first of all dialogue with these people and find out their grievances? The only thing that I read in the paper is that they want to Islamize Nigeria; we know that there are other grievances, which should be known before amnesty is given by the government”.

As if that was not enough, the

a to-do list for President Jonathan which, in their own view, should possibly solve the problems in the North.

Pray, what sort of country is Nigeria? Some (not all) leaders, who are vicariously liable for the plight of their part of the country, have come to town with their own version of a Marshall Plan to be funded with tax payers money from other parts of the country!

Those who appear opposed to amnesty for Boko Haram are doing so from a less strategic standpoint.

Those who are equally swimming

with the tide of amnesty for the sect are even making the case worse.

Into this mix is a President whose underhand agenda in all of this is no more than how 2015 can be guaranteed. To make matters worse for Jonathan, two very important – in fact most important – personalities who could have made massive the difference in the 26-man committee set up (Ahmed Sani and Dr. Datti Ahmed) have turned down the request because they see through the gambit.

It is reckless to expect that amnesty for Boko Haram members would bring peace to Nigeria’s North, just as it is reckless for the sect members to continue wallowing in a delusory sense of omnipotence. When you play a weak hand, your opponent will capitalize on it. That is why Boko Haram can throw amnesty back in the face of Jonathan and making a mockery of it by saying it is government that deserves amnesty.

Scratchibng the surface of a sore

National Chairman of the PDP, Tukur, described the group as evilminded but did not say amnesty should not be granted to them, apparently because the party had welcomed with open arms the idea of offering pardon to the group.

Olisa Metuh, who speaks for the party had in a reaction, described the amnesty process for the sect as the best decision at the moment.

Like Metuh, there are others, who do not see Jonathan’s action as a bad idea after all. Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, has described the amnesty offer by the Presidency as one of the best steps so far taken by the Jonathan’s administration. The governor is of the view that if well implemented, the pardon would go a long way to stabilize the north and bring about the much needed peace, which has been eluding the area for some time now.

In the same vein, Former Head of State and National leader of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) has thrown his weight behind the proposed amnesty for

Islamic sect, Boko Haram, commending the Federal Government for setting up a committee to handle the assignment and payment of compensation to victims of the attacks.

Apart from the local support that the planned amnesty is getting, the United States of America, has also thrown its weight behind the programme, saying that it was a good thing to do in order to nip the crisis in the bud.

The idea of granting amnesty to the sect was first mooted by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammad Abubakar 111, a suggestion that first drew serious flaks from home and abroad from the Christian community. But he soon got some support from the Christian community, when John Cardinal Onaiyekan, backed him on the call, saying that it should be done if only it would bring about the much needed peace in the country.

Onaiyekan is of the view that while there is a religious dimension to the Boko Haram saga, political forces should lend a helping hand towards finding a lasting solution to the

problem.

One thing that has come out of the various discussions on the Boko Haram sect is that head or tail, it is President Jonathan that takes the blame for every step he intends to take in connection with the group in the months leading to the next election. Jonathan has really been boxed into a tight corner as far as the BH imbroglio is concerned.

When his administration first insisted that it would not deal with ghosts unless the northern leaders impress upon the sect members to come out and identify themselves for possible dialogue with the government, he was chastised for not willing to pardon the recalcitrant elements from the north.

Paradoxically, now that Jonathan and his advisers have moved a notch further to strategize on how to give credence to the much awaited amnesty for the malevolent men, the same mouths that shouted from the rooftop that the government was insensitive to the plight of the north, are now lampooning the Jonathan and his government for even proposing amnesty.

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

W

hat do you think of Boko Haram amnesty being planned by Federal Government?

The extension of hands of friendship to the group is a good development and we are happy about it and we pray that God Almighty will make it possible for a final solution to be found to the problem that has been staring the nation in the face. I don’t expect any of the parties to soft pedal on this initiative.

Government should fast-rack its agenda to end this ugly scenario in our land.

The group should also see the offer as an opportunity for peace and dialogue with government.

T

here are rumours you are battling to upstage Vice President Namadi Sambo in 2015. Why? I have read something like that in the papers, but, seriously, there is no iota of truth in it. The VP and I are very close friends. I cannot, in all honesty, do anything to undermine him or his position. He is aware of my love and friendship with him over the years and nothing can separate us. In the first instance , I don’t have blind ambition.

Those who are familiar with me know that I have never lobbied or struggled for any of the positions I have occupied in life. I have been a bank managing director twice. I have been a minister twice and i have also been a governor twice. God paved the way for me to occupy those positions and render service to society without coveting anyone. What I should rather do at this stage of my life is to say to God ‘thank you for all that you have done for me’ instead of going to pull down another person put in place by the Almighty God. I know that God would unfailingly punish me if I don’t show appreciation for what he has done for me and wickedly go to bring down the vice president.

Besides, the VP and I have a very good relationship. I look up to him as a senior brother just I look up to Mr. President as a senior brother. I know that what they expect from me is total loyalty and not competition with them. As a matter of fact I have never competed for any office in my life. As a bank MD, I was interviewed and given the job out of many others who competed for the post.

But as a minister,(ex) President Obasanjo called me and offered me the job and, out of the 65 ministers who worked with him between 1999 and 2003, I was among the only three ministers who were retained by the government without lobbying to be returned. God used Obasanjo to return me and two others. I did not lobby.

When I wanted to become governor, I went to the PDP, but some people made life very difficult for me then and I went to the ANPP and God made it possible for me to defeat the PDP in Bauchi. So, as far as I am concerned, God has a path for everybody and you don’t need blind ambition because, if you do, it means you are daring God. It is God that gives one power and, if you don’t believe that he is the one that gives you a path where you should tread, you are blindfolding yourself.

So, I am a loyal PDP member who is bound by the constitution of the party,

•Gov. Isa Yuguda

I remain loyal to Mr. President, the VP and our PDP — Isa Yuguda •’Why APC will never rule Nigeria’ •Says over 6,000 Bauchi teachers could not defend their qualifications

G

overnor Isa Yuguda, as someone who had played a strategic role as a bank CEO in two major banks before delving into the murky waters of partisan politics, truly understands the intricacies of managing both ends to ensure the happiness of the people of Bauchi State and, by extension, other Nigerians in his domain. But those who are opposed to every move he makes would not just allow him to sleep well without raising one allegation or the other against him. Last week, the media was awash with the allegation that he was battling to flush out Vice President Namadi Sambo from his comfort zone come 2015. But, in an emotion-laden tone, Yuguda, popularly known as Mallam by his people, in this interview, denies ever contemplating such, describing both President Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Sambo, as his senior brothers, whom he could not undermine for whatever reason.

He declares: “I’m totally loyal to President Jonathan, his vice and the People’s Democratic Party and will continue to work for the success of the party even after leaving office”.

faithfully committed to the party leaders at all levels and unwilling to do anything against the interest and wellbeing of our great party. So, those who are peddling the rumour that I want to upstage the VP are just trying to create enmity where there is none and will never be. I want to state unequivocally that, as a committed and faithful PDP stalwart, I will continue to work for the progress and success of the party to continue to rule and provide the right

leadership for Nigeria even after leaving office as a governor.

T

here is also the allegation you are running for the Presidency, the chairmanship of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum or the Northern Governors’ Forum. Which of this are you really going for?

Like I told you before, if I say I’m not grateful to God and that I would pursue inordinate ambition, then I would be out

of tune with God. I never knew God had planned for me to become a managing director of a bank at the age of 32 after graduating from the university. I didn’t know that God had also planned for me to be made the managing director of a second bank just as I never imagined that God had destined for me to become a minister twice in this country, not to talk of becoming a governor straight from the banking hall. You can imagine how

Continues on page 19

SUNDAY

S

o, where are you going after completing your tenure as governor?

I’m a loyal PDP member and I’m a professional banker and, by extension, I’m a businessman. We are trained to start business and make it work well.

We can even revive ailing companies and turn them around. One thing is certain, I will remain in PDP and continue to work for its interest after 2015.

W

hat do you think about the emergence of APC? I’m happy about the development, which shows that Nigeria’s democracy is deepening. What the APC is doing is good for the polity. We, as a party, are also working hard to regain those states which they took from us. But one thing the APC people should note is that power belongs to God and that, no

’Why APC will never rule Nigeria’

•Gov. Isa Yuguda: Discovered that money was going to the wrong people

,

Continued from page 18 difficult it could be for someone who is coming from the corporate world devoid of political connections to partisan politics. This is a profession bound by secrecy and somehow cut off from the general public. It is a profession that only the private sector players dominate.

So, is somebody so Satanic as to believe that Isa Yuguda has an ambition to become the president of Nigeria? Then that person must be crazy.

Why didn’t he ask that same question when I was a banker that I wanted to become a minister and why did he not ask the same question when I became a governor after serving the nation twice as minister? And after being a governor twice, you are suggesting or coming out with the figment of your imagination that I want to be president or vice president. It is God that makes a president and not human being.

Even Mr. President himself has said it many times that he is grateful to God that he has taken him to the peak of power in Nigeria from the humble beginning he started from. As a number one citizen of Nigeria presiding over a population of over 160 million and a person from a minority tribe, he was not reckoned with to occupy such post.

But, as God wants it, he is the president of Nigeria and there is nothing any man can do about it.

So, for any person, all these Satanic people who spread rumours to cause disaffection and bad blood between the leadership and followers, they should know that there is repercussion for every evil done to another person. These people should realise that I’m a governor and that I’m a loyal party member totally committed to the president and his vice as well as the party leadership and its entire structures across the country.

Why do they want to play me against my own bosses? It is a tragedy. And i take serious exception to such an unholy attempt by evil-minded elements to blackmail me before my leaders. I leave the fabricators of that falsehood to their conscience knowing that judgment awaits them in the hand of God for fabricating lies against an innocent person all in their desperate bid to create problems between me and my bosses.

But they should be wise enough to know that it is God who placed me here as the governor of the state and any attempt to blackmail me and my family would earn the wrath of the Almighty God. Let the Nigerian press begin to see itself as an anchor for development and justice for all and not an instrument for blackmail.

Vanguard ,

I discovered that the state was paying salaries to the wrong people to destroy the future of our children by indoctrinating them into crimes and leading them astray because they did not have anything useful to impart to them.

,

matter the kind of alliances they go into, they will never defeat PDP by the grace of God because of the good intention that the PDP and the president of this country have for Nigeria. President Jonathan means well for Nigeria and he has a good heart to move the nation forward. For this and other reasons, the opposition will never defeat the PDP. The hearts of some of the leaders of the merging parties are not good. In other words, they do not love this country and God will never allow them to defeat the PDP in any election. God will never allow these people to rule Nigeria.

W

hat is really the problem between your government and teachers?

The truth is that many of the teachers committed fraud and stayed on in the system wasting public funds and trying to ruin the future of our children. They are so many in number and they have a leadership not worthy to lead them, they were misled. In the first instance, those that were sacked, only one or two could be said to have had the qualification and were sacked in error. The majority of those sacked never saw the four walls of primary or secondary school or teacher training college. These are people who cannot write their names. I discovered that the state was paying salaries to the wrong people to destroy the future of our children by indoctrinating them into crimes and leading them astray because they did not have anything useful to impart to them. They have never gone to school before.

D

id you discuss this with the NUT leaders?

The leadership of the union was here and was thoroughly embarrassed by this sordid issue. The leadership even gave me an award for the intervention we have carried out since I came in as governor. Because of our untiring effort to put the education system in good shape, I have all it takes to make students in my state to score at least 80% to 90% success in WAEC and NECO. This became possible after taking several steps to tackle the lapses I noticed on assumption of office. We have not only bought over six million

APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 19

books and distributed free to students, but we have also significantly increased their feeding allowances and provided the schools with essential facilities such as electricity, water and equipment to enable them excel.

The intervention we have made in the schools in the state is unprecedented in the history of Bauchi State. In fact, I can say that the amount of money being given to schools for feeding is four times more than what they were getting before I became governor. I have also increased the remuneration of teachers such they today they are among the highest paid in the country. With this in mind, i expect nothing but the best from the teachers and students. But, four years after, it was like motion without movement.

I knew something was amiss and I set up a committee to investigate the situation. The State Universal Basic Education Board also probed the teachers and came out with its own findings. We discovered that some of the so—called teachers called upon to defend their certificates could not write or spell their names. This is the tragedy that has befallen the state.

We discovered that most of them, who never enrolled in any school, just went to business centres and printed fake NCE certificates and submitted for employment into the school system.

Kaduna State did the same and discovered that over 3,000 of the socalled teachers could neither write their names nor pass primary four test administered on them and they were fired. I have given them the opportunity to come and prove that they can teach.

First, we will recertify them and confirm from the institutions they claim they graduated from and they will be subjected to an examination and, if we confirm that they can teach, we retain them. We have over 6,000 of such persons in our school system. But, right now, we have more than 30,000 applications from prospective teachers.

I would not submit to any form of blackmail to allow these unqualified elements to destroy our schools.

H

ow far has your power project gone?

We are just waiting for the signing of the loan agreement between Nigeria and the Chinese Exim Bank, for which they have availed us $1.6billion out of which I am getting $171 million to jumpstart the project. At the same time, we are waiting for the release of the Power Intervention Fund to us by one of the commercial banks in Nigeria to start the project. In the next 18 months, Bauchi would have sufficient power for use and for sale. We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with a distribution company in Jos to buy the excess power from the plant. The good thing again about our IPP is that we now have access to crude oil very close to us. Therefore, the cost of lifting the oil has been made cheaper for me. You can see that the break- even period for the project would be shorter than envisaged.

It’s good news that I have access to gas within 200 kilometres. And I have a tank farm that can keep gas for six months. There is also a capped well in Yankari that we can use to run the plant.

Are you worried about criticisms?

No. Criticism is meant to keep you in check and enable you do better; the only problem may be when criticism is borne out of wrong motives just to pull down the leadership.

PAGE 20— SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

Re: Declining family affinity W

HEN our children are doing well in their chosen profession, are of good character, and can fit into what the society considers achievers, we’re proud of them and feel fulfilled as parents because we feel our labour in them has not been in vain. Some experts say that this parental satisfaction can actually promote good health, general well being and hopefully, lengthen our years! We all know that every parent cannot feel this way about every child and ward of his/hers. So, if things go awry and there’s a hiccup about that child, should a parent refuse to accept any blame for the disappointment?

A few readers were upset with me for saying that if parents don’t clean up their act and present themselves as honest, responsible, trustworthy and citizens of good character, their children may not turn out well. They said I’m always blaming adults for young people’s misdemeanour, as if these ones don’t have a mind of their own.

“Mrs. Ovbiagele, I’ve been reading your column for years now, and I’m convinced that you have sound views most of the time, but I do oppose your habit of never blaming young people for the wrong choices they make.

Whatever the subject, you blame the adults – parents, teachers, our rulers, politicians, government, etc. What about young people who insist on ‘doing their own thing’, in spite of the sound upbringing they’ve had, and the good examples their parents have shown them? Youths are mostly to blame for whatever scrape they get into. They know what’s right and what’s wrong. - Samuel, Lagos.”

“Children, especially young people, are not robots that you programmme to do your bidding at any time. They have a mind of their own which influences their behaviour which they largely pattern on that of their peers.

How many parents can successfully monitor who their children move with and emulate? It’s those friends you condemn that their hearts cling to.

I’m not saying that parents shouldn’t do their utmost to ensure a good relationship with their wards which would make these ones want to take their problems to them, but don’t always assume that when a child cheats at examinations, it’s because the parent is a cheat, a swindler and a thief. - Ayoola, Mushin, Lagos.”

“Ma, right now, most Nigerian parents have failed the nation by the example they show young citizens, and there are hardly any role model to emulate. I’m in my early twenties and a graduate. I’ve been pounding the streets for two straight years now after my youth service, in search of a job in my course of studies. I’ve drawn a blank so far. To reduce financial tension in the family, I teamed up with some friends to give coaching lessons to secondary school children. My

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

Children, especially young people, are not robots that you programmme to do your bidding at any time.

They have a mind of their own which influences their behaviour which they largely pattern on that of their peers

long hours of teaching yield very little money, but it reduces dependency to a certain extent. Imagine my frustration when I read of public figures who embezzle our money with impunity, to the point that a billion naira is considered nothing. Aren’t these people parents? If their children turn out to be fraudulent with student union money, or engage in internet scam, would it be the fault of their friends? - Fatai, Yaba, Lagos.”

“Auntie Helen, I’m a young person, and I would rather confide in my friends than in members of my own family. I’m not kidding, ma. I do have a good family, but they’re so judgmental that I can never feel free telling them my innermost feelings. They won’t try to find out why I acted the way I did, but would straightaway begin to condemn me and in the end I feel awful. I agree, ma, that not all friends are good, but if one has had good values drummed into one by parents, one would know the sort of friends to move with. I have very useful friends who help me a lot to make my decisions. -

Funsho, Akure.”

“Ma, how do you take your problems to people who hardly have time for you? Not every parent has the habit of asking their children how their day has been, or find out what friends they have.

I agree that in the big cities, parents could be stressed out, but shouldn’t they carve out time for the children at the weekend?

Sometimes, one feels shut out by the look on a parent’s face. You have no option but go to your friend. This doesn’t mean that one would be drawn into a life of immorality or criminal activities, but sometimes all one wants is a sympathetic listening ear.

Personally, I wouldn’t do what I know my parents wouldn’t approve of, but I don’t have to confide in them. - Ifeanyi, Enugu.”

“Sister Helen, it’s normal for some young people to prefer confiding in their age-mates, and this isn’t limited to Nigeria, but to the present world at large. They have their own code of conduct for their behaviour. A parent can’t force his/her child to confide in him/her, but should show interest in all aspects of the life of the child.

What we need outside the home, are good counselling units in primary, secondary and higher institutions of learning. They should be manned by experienced experts, supervised by the Ministry of Education. In faithbased institutions, these can be joined by pastors, imams, etc. If

2012 Fashion Show Amanda Mealing Photos Zimbiowww.zimbio.com

these units are well-run, even children from dodgy background could be guided in the right direction, as they are encouraged to unburden themselves to these neutral adults.

The Welfare Department of Local government areas can have Youth Counselling Centres too. Rosie, Jos.” “Aunty, I can’t dream of taking my problems to my friends, ever. My dad and mum are very strict, and they do punish bad behaviour, but we their children know that this is in our best interest. If I can’t confide in either of them, then I go to my eldest sister or brother. They help decide what our parents should be told, and I’ve always found their advice very helpful.

What experience would my friends use to counsel me? Besides, some friends cannot keep secrets, but go broadcast what you’ve told them all over the place. Some even push you into making the wrong move. - Diana, Abuja.”

“Madam, I’m not a pastor, but I don’t see anything wrong in preaching about material prosperity, provided the people are urged to work hard and honestly for money and wealth. I agree that parents should be told to raise their children by good examples, but prayer for prosperity gives one hope that one’s financial situation will improve. Not everyone will become a billionaire, but God Himself gives wealth to people. Search the Bible. It’s part of His blessings for human beings. Andy, Benin City.”

We thank all those who wrote in.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 21

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

Memories of Christy Stallings

BY SHADE THOMAS-FAHM

S

he passed away in the early hours of March 27 th , 2013, in San Francisco, USA, at the age of 83. That drew a curtain on our over sixty-year-old friendship!

Christy Stallings (nee Tugele) was from Warri but was born in Kaduna.

Meeting Christy

Young and bubbling with hopes and aspirations, we met in London for the first time through a mutual friend, Doris Press Prichard, now of blessed memory. Both of them were already at school in London before I went there too to study.

Doris Prichard’s parents had given me her address so I could contact her on my arrival in London. I did, and through her, I met Christy. We were about four friends at that time, but I was quite close to Doris and Christy. We had fun, and that dampened the loneliness of being in a strange country with strange people.

Fond memories

Doris had been in England for about three years and already had her own flat, so, we congregated there at weekends, to chat, have a nice time together, and from there go to the movies. We had this habit while out, of commenting on the beautiful cars on the road. “That’s a Chevrolet, that’s a Pontier, that’s a Jaguar…”, we would say. And of course, the longest one was what Christy always wanted, and she would say, “That’s my car! That’s what I want!”

During the day, we worked in factories. I remember she introduced me to the blouse factory where she had a contract job. We would produce at least twelve blouses on a daily basis on commission. At the end of the day, we would collect whatever we’ve earned, and save it towards trips to the cinema at weekends. We were too young for the theatres at that time, but once in a while, we would go to a Matinee.

Nigerian Airways

When Nigeria Airways was established, Christy was one of the first hostesses to be recruited and trained. She made a most beautiful airways hostess, and she would always bring us news and food from home. So, we would always spend our weekends at her place whenever she flew back to England. She had been married to Chief Rewane and they had two sons before she even went to England.

Those sons are now big men of timber and calibre in C M Y K

wi t h right) ( s g n f talli iltof r i s t y SAmachree-P h C e t La ne ter Ne daugh

Late Christy Stallings (nee Tugele) Nigeria! Christy and Chief Rewane parted ways along the line, and later, during one of her trips, she met her Prince Charming, a Mr. Stallings, an American who was shuttling between Lagos and Ghana.

They got married and were blessed with children.

Sadly, her husband, Mr. Stallings died here in Nigeria, and she moved to go join his people in the U.S., and she began shuttling between America and Nigeria. We spent many happy times together in Los Angeles, sometimes I spent as long as a month in her house. She was really the best hostess ever, as she entertained one lavishly and took one sight-seeing.

An amiable lady

We were very close friends, and I can’t remember us ever having a long-drawn out quarrel. Even if we had any misunderstanding, laughter always covered it all! Once we pick up the telephone, the first thing you hear is laughter; laughing over fond memories.

Her laughter was really c o n t a g i o u s .

Oh, Christy! I’m really happy for her because she got all what she dreamed of having. She was well-known and liked where she lived in the United States, because she was always organising African exhibitions. Most people liked her on sight because of her warmth and friendliness.

Nigerian Television

Christy Stallings(1st left) with son, Douglas Eyimofe Stallings and wife carrying her grandson and top right, daughter ,Delia Eyitemi Stallings Authority-NTA, boutique After she left the Nigerian Airways, she joined the NTA where she worked for many years before setting-up a classy boutique at the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos. She had actually studied Mass Production, Garment Making in England.

Contribution economy

to

She did a lot of work on African Arts and she really promoted Nigerian arts in her own way! She would take our African arts, clothes, handwoven adire, Bida beads and

Aso-oke to America for exhibitions, and this was a good business venture for her.

This was in the seventies.

The end

A home accident was probably what contributed to her passing on, because she had fallen down before falling sick. The last time we spoke was about two weeks before her demise, and we even laughed over the fall. She told me it wasn’t serious. I rang her up while she was in hospital, but according to her daughter, she batted her eye-lids when the phone was put to her ear, but

she couldn’t talk. The last time we saw was 18-months ago when she visited Nigeria, and we were inseparable throughout that her visit.

Lessons from Christy’s life

You have to give something back to life. Otherwise, life is worthless. Christy dreamed, followed her dreams and got them all. Her gift was to help people in any way she could and make people feel at ease. This she did at all times. MAY HER NICE SOUL REST IN PEACE. AMEN.

PAGE 22 — SUNDAY VANGUARD , APRIL 21, 2013

No more interested in girls!

Dear Rebecca

I

am a 21 year old boy. While in junior class in secondary school, I had girlfriends but when I got to my final year, I dropped the two girls I was going out with for one reason or the other.

I tried to find out from my friends what they think of my action. They all said my decision to stay alone was not the best since they all had girlfriends.

I am, therefore, writing to ask the same question.

Is it a wise idea for a 21 year old boy not to have a girlfriend? Is there any effect in the long run?

Abi, Ikotun, Lagos REPL Y REPLY

T

HE decision to have or not to have a romantic relationship is purely personal and private. You do not owe anyone, even your parents, an apology for

your action. No one falls sick or dies from deciding not to have girlfriends, sex, or getting married. Life is more enjoyable and fulfilling if you live it the way you want to, and according to your conscience, provided you’re not breaking the law of the land, or hurting someone. You are an individual with your own set of ideas and values. So , what suits your friends may not suit you.

However, since you are bothered about your state of not having a girlfriend and inviting comments on it from your friends, it seems you still feel the need for a girl in your life. If this is correct, I suggest you start dating girls again. But before that, think deeply about why you decided to call it quits with your previous girlfriends.

Were you afraid of girls and their demands, e.g money or sex? Or was it on religious grounds? Would you marry in future simple to fulfill society’s expectations that every adult should marry and have kids, or would it be because you have desire for a woman to love and share your life with?

I know you are not ready to settle down yet, but you have to be convinced you need a

I feel bad seeing her!

Dear Rebecca

I

am a twenty year old boy and an ap prentice to one of my elder brothers. Out of the six and a half years I am supposed to serve him, I have stayed for six years. Suddenly I feel like leaving him immediately. The problem is that there is a girl who comes to our bookshop whom I have been telling my brother to discontinue seeing. Each time she comes there I feel bad. If I leave suddenly, my brother will not establish me on a capital as large as if I stayed for the whole term of apprenticeship..

I wanted to tell this girl to stop coming to our shop or I will shoot her next time I see her.

Robert, Nasarawa State

REPL Y REPLY

I

don’t know what you have against this girl, but I advise that you allow your brother to decide whether she should come to the bookshop or not.

Your brother is the owner of the place and he is older than you are.

If he wants the lady in

his life, this is his business. Since you are serving him, it is in your own interest to be cooperative and tolerant about the situation.

Be polite to her and keep out of her way. If you are a believer, and you really feel that she is bad for your brother, take the problem to God and pray fervently that His will be done in the matter. God knows what’s best for each of us. In order to reduce your dislike for another human being, we try to see what is good in him or her, and ignore or forgive the bad side.

It would be terribly foolish and childish to quit your apprenticeship when you have only a few months to freedom and the establishing of your own business. Be patient and allow your good to come to you. Satan has a way of trying to sabotage God’s plans for us.

Whenever you feel the urge to leave, think of your self in your own shop and business, training other boys. And also of the money you will make and what you will do with it. These happy thoughts will calm you down and make you stay.

Good luck.

woman in your life before you marry otherwise you would be making two people unhappy; yourself and your spouse. On the other hand, it could be that you dropped those girls because you wanted to concentrate on your studies in your final year. Start dating again only when you’re convinced it’s what you want. Meanwhile, what are you doing about a future career? Are you working, trading or in between studies? Your future means of livelihood is far more important than girls. So, get serious with that.

She also dates other boys!

Dear Rebecca

I

am a 20 year old boy, an apprentice in Gombe. I am in love with a girl of 15.

We have been going out for about a year. My problem is that I always find her with other boys.

When I confronted her on two occasions. She denied having anything to do with them.

Once I asked one particular boy I had seen with her, if there was anything between them.

He told me she is his girlfriend. When I asked her, she again denied it but agreed that she went out with him in the past.

I love this girl so much and she even claims to be a virgin. Please advise me, for I am still in love with her.

Mike, Gombe REPL Y REPLY

I

don’t know whether your girl is ready for marriage now or not, but at 15, she should have several members of the opposite sex as friends. This should merely be friendship which would enable her to be acquainted with different boys and their ways, so that she would know her preference in the choice of a partner in

future.

You need to do the same with the girls. No romance, no sex, until you feel in yourself that you are emotionally mature enough to handle a romantic relationship. This would involve not suspecting that every boy your girlfriend smiles at or has a chat with is her boyfriend. Going around asking boys what their relationship is with a 15 year old girl, you are not in a position to marry for several years to come, does not show emotional maturity.

I believe that she is still a virgin and those boys were mere friends, al-

though virginity is not the issue here, is it? This is a very normal situation. The more people you interact with, the more you are able to relate with people. You will know that human beings react to people and situations in different ways, and that you will have to accept people as they are. This attitude would make you relax in serious relationships later, especially in marriage where you need a lot of patience and understanding to make it work.

So, enjoy your relationship with this girl while you both concentrate on your career or studies.

Can I marry this older lady?

Dear Rebecca

I

am a regular reader of your column, and I like the way you provide solutions to people’s problem. In fact it's lovely. May God bless you.

I am a 22 year old guy, working with a law firm and also seeking admission into the university.

I have been into a relationship with a girl right from my secondary school days and we both left school two years ago, but then we lost contact.

We met again last year and we promised to marry each other but I discovered this year that she is two years older than I am. She visits me often and my parents already know her. I’m uncomfortable about the age thing. I can’t tell her this because I don’t want to break her heart.

Is it possible for a man to marry a woman who

is older than him?

Please I need an urgent advice.

AA, Lagos State.

REPL Y REPLY

A

two-year age gap between you and this lady is very insignificant. Even a five year gap means you are in the same age group. There are instances where a wife is much older than the husband even with as much as ten years, yet the union is successful because of the mutual respect and love that they have for each other.

In such an instance, a lady was in her mid thirties, and the man in his late twenties when they got married. They were blessed with three children they planned to have. The man even though much younger, behaved responsibly and many years after, he’s

still respected as the head of the family. A man’s emotional maturity, good character and sense of responsibility matter, and they are what earn him respect in the home, not the fact that he is older than his wife. Also, a woman’s ability to have children is not hinged on her being much younger than the husband. So long as a woman is still within her childbearing age(up to 48years), there should be no fear of a man who wants children, marrying her.

Now, the reality of your relationship is that while you at 22, and waiting for admission into a higher institution, you are far from being ready for marriage; this lady of 24, could be ready now, if she finds a man who

she loves and who is ready for marriage. A woman can go back to school at any convenient point of her marriage.

I would advise that you suspend all talks of marriage and take the relationship lightly for now.

This means both of you can have other members of the opposite sex as ordinary friends. This would enable you to study and understand them more, so that you would know the type you would like to marry later.

Time will determine whether you and this lady would be husband and wife. I advise you enjoy the relationship as it is and concentrate more on gaining admission into a higher institution. Your future career matters more now than a relationship with a girls.

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: Dear Rebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

SUNDAY Vanguard , APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 23

How do I tell them they keep me awake all night?!

C

AN enough ever be said or writ ten about sex?

The problem with Nifemi. is not that she’s not getting enough, or too much - it is with her flatmate who seems to think the only way to enjoy sex is always to scream from the rooftop whenever she’s at it with her boyfriend, ‘’’Imagine the scenario for a minute,” she complained to me once. ‘“You’ve had a long day, are dead tired and now, thankfully you’re in bed ready to drop off. Suddenly a loud thud vibrates ‘through the ceiling above. Seconds later, you hear female giggles, by which time your partner is wide awake too.

Predictably, the giggles turn into moans and groans. It’s soon pretty obvious what is going on ... ‘“Kemi and I had been friends since secondary school. After I landed a good job in a firm of solicitors, David, my fiance and I decided to look for a bigger accommodation.

I discussed this with Kemi and she said she wanted to move to new premises too. If I found one suitable for her, I should let her know. As luck would have it, one of our clients had a wing of a four-room duplex vacant and wanted us to

find a suitable tenant for it. The rent he wanted was a bit steep, but he took off a couple of thousands when I told him I might be interested. The idea was to find a suitable person to share the flat with me - and I had Kemi in mind. She was single and had a wellpaid job. ‘“She bought the idea right away. She would take the bedroom upstairs and one extra room - and we would share the living room. Things were fine for months until Kemi told me she’d fallen for a personal trainer who co-owned a gym with a friend this name was Mike - a sixfoot hunk and toned muscles. I was genuinely pleased for her but when the grunts of their love making got louder and louder most nights, I realised their friendship had moved up a stage or two. I tried desperately to block the noise out with my pillow. It felt a bit obscene hearing my friend be so intimate. ‘“It got to a stage when Kemi and her bean’s strange love-making noise didn’t seem quite so funny. Their poor bed would rattle and the yelps would follow.

‘Thank God he doesn’t stay over that often,’ I told David. As friendly as

I was with Kemi, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I could hear their antics.

It was just too awkward for me. Then a few months later, she came home all excited. ‘Mike’s moving in with me,’ she grinned.

‘You mean permanently?’ I gulped. She nodded. ‘Great, isn’t it?’

Only, I could have wept - there’d be constant bedroom noise now. Sure enough, that weekend, no sooner had Mike hauled his stuff into Kemi’ s other room, than it began ... ‘’WhenI saw Kemi the next morning, I couldn’t hide my yawns. ‘I didn’t sleep welt’

I explained. Would she take the hint? She didn’t.

Until a few weekends later when the noisy nooky began at around 2 a.m. I was woken up by a delighted female giggle. Here we go again, I groaned with annoyance. And this time, they barely stopped all weekend. That did it. I had to say something - I was sure my friend would understand. So, we agreed to meet up for lunch as we sometimes do. As we ordered lunch, I played in my mind the best way to approach the topic. Kemi was her chatty self and told me: ‘Sorry I couldn ‘t catch up

with you over the weekend, I had to leave early to go to my sister ’s. You know the one that will be getting married soon, so we could discuss some details. I had a lovely time catching up with her? ‘You mean this weekend just gone? I asked. She nodded and continued to fill me up on what they did. So who on earth had been with Mike? Oh God, I groaned inwardly, he was cheating on her!

What on earth was I supposed to do now?

“As I looked at her again, Kemi’s face looked serious. ‘I’m worried Mike’s got another woman,’ she confided.

She explained he’d been leaving the room to take phone calls and was working late at the gym.

This was my chance to tell her. But as I hesitated, I realised she’d already talked herself round. ‘I’m just being silly and too suspicious, ‘ she reasoned with herself. ‘He lives with me, not the other way round.

If he were to be unfaithful, it would have to be in another place.’ How naive can you get?

“Two days later, the sex upstairs was louder than ever. I lay there, resenting the intrusion yet loaded with guilt for not putting my friend in the true picture of what was going on behind her back. ‘You owe it to her to tell her,’ my fiance told me, ‘It’s a spineless man that would do a heartless thing like that - Kemi could eventually get hurt.’ I agreed with him.

Only, I don’t have the heart to bust her bubble.

As things are, I’m still waking in the middle of the night to howls and shrieks of their lovemaking. But now, I never know ififs Kemi screaming or someone else. It was awful enough thinking of breaking the news that I’d heard their sex sessions. But breaking my poor friend’s heart too? How do I do that?”

08052201867(Text Only)

A

CCORDING to r e s e a r c h sychobiologist a n d I y e n g a r Yo g a teacher, Roger Cole, “ yoga and science go t o g e t h e r v e r y, v e r y nicely.”

A scientist with a doctorate in Health Psychology, Cole’s studies involve the interface between physiological and psychological processes, specialising in research and biological relaxation, restoration, and biological clocks.

A gymnast when he was in high school, he has been practising for over 20 years and says that yoga offers “a vast storehouse of wisdom” about the body and mind that modern science can draw upon.

In his work as a re-

s e a r c h e r, C o l e h a s documented the effects of various yoga postures on brain waves particularly relaxation poses such as Viparita Karani (Supported Inverted Pose) and Setubandhasana quickly manifested the data brain waves associated with deep relaxation.

He has also delved into the physiological effect of inverted poses, which he says dramatically affect hormone levels, brain arousal, blood pressure, fluid balance and a host of other factors among other changes.

When the body is turned upside down, the heart rate slows and the blood vessels dilate.

The extra blood in the trunk stimulates the baroreceptor nerves in the aorta and neck, which in turn signals the central nervous system to lower blood pressure and slow down brain waves.

Modern science offers Yoga, Cole says, a precious way of observing and qualifying such subtle phenomena, thereby broadening the body of yogic knowledge.

“Some people look at the system of yoga as static-they think its perfect as it is,” says Cole, who teaches at the North country Yoga Studio in San Diego, California, USA. “But yoga is still evolving and we are still inventing yoga today.

discriminate between what is beautiful and sacred and what is

,

Science supports Yoga

“Science can manipulate matter and energy but it doesn’t

When the body is turned upside down, the heart rate slows and the blood vessels dilate

, The Shoulderstand

Yoga classes at 32 Adetokunbo Ademola, Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

not,” he enthuses. “ Yo g a b r i n g s t h a t beauty, turning our investigation into a living art.”

The shoulder stand Technique: Lying on your back, draw up your knees, and place both hands at the back with the thumbs to the hips.

With a bit of momentum, raise the legs up and point the toes skyward. For the beginner, a half-minute in this posture will do until over the longhaul you can say for upwards of two minutes.

The Bridge Technique: Lying on your back, draw your knees up a bit, placing the hands by the lower flanks raise the body and support it on the elbows, shoulders and back of the head. Retain the pose for say half a minute, rest and repeat a few times.

PAGE 24 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Sad experiences that could put you off marriage

M

UCH as it is still an accepted standard here in Nigeria that the ultimate goal of both male and female in a stable relationship is marriage, lots of people are now wary of it.

Quite a number have refused to even think of it either because they’d had a nasty marital experience or because they got jilted.

Only one of the people I talked to refused to get married because he didn’t want it.

Iyabo. still beautiful with three children - works as an executive secretary in an oil company. A graduate, she rubs shoulders with her male counterpart and it’s when she’s home she gives a thought to her loneliness.

“On second thought. I wouldn’t call it loneliness.” she told me. ‘I’ve never been married anyway. I was a romantic fool but not any more. When I was 18 and just fresh out of secondary school. I met and fell in love with Cornelius. Handsome and well loved by the girls, I always wondered what he saw in me. I was not all that beautiful and was far from sophisticated. He always assured me that he liked his woman quiet. and sophisticated women in his opinion, didn’t make good wives.

“I worked for three years while he worked towards going abroad to further his studies. We were already engaged then. so I helped him save. The understanding was that I would later join him abroad after he’d settled a bit. The day he was leaving, he had all my life savings tucked inside the inner pocket of his jacket.

“When he left. I felt lonely and listless. We’d constantly gone out together in the three years I knew him and now that he was not around, I missed him a lot.

We’d both talked about what I would study for when I eventually joined him and we decided on secretaryship. To make things easier for me. I studied Shorthand and Typing at evening lessons. Cornelius’ letters and phone calls steadily poured in, but not the romantic ones lovers get. He was al-

ways telling me about some parties he attended, the people he met and exciting things he still wanted to do.

‘Wish you were here’ he always said in his letters but I knew he didn’t miss me half as much as I missed him.

All that would change when I joined him in Germany, I consoled myself.

“Only I never had the chance. Corny wrote that he had a girlfriend. He warned me I shouldn’t take that as an excuse to look for a man myself. All the boys did it, he said, and very few got married to white girlfriends. Getting girlfriends during winter was a guarantee for a warm bed. I didn’t know what to make of his letter and when the next one came, I was shattered. He wrote that lately, he wasn’t sure about anything - least of all about getting married. He wanted time to get ‘himself together’ and wIllie he did that I was to get myself a boyfriend too. If God meant us to get married, we would in the long. Subconsciously, I must have guessed something like this would happen because I wasnt really heartbroken. I was hurt and disappointed but I didn’t feel I would never recover from the shock. I told my parents and it was decided I should go abroad for my secretarial studies. I was twenty-two and still hopeful of eventually settling down. So I went to London to study and put my bitter

Y

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel.

Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

Love

Love is possible after friendship, but friendship is not possible after love, because medicine work before death later nothing can be

experience behind me. I didn’t get my fiance’s letter and I never bothered to write him.

“I finished Secretarial Studies two years later and put in for advanced studies.

I lived in a pleasant hostel and had my own share of dates. Meanwhile. I had nobody I was serious about.

Dupe, another Nigerian living in the hostel. was my very good friend. She was out one day when a man called with a message from her parents.

I took the message and he stopped for coffee. He told me he was a medical student.

He went home on holidays and he’ d just been back.

From the ‘ way he spoke, his parents were a bit on the wealthy side because they paid for him to come down.

He promised to come back the next t”day to take Dupe and I out.

“When Dupe came, she read her message but didn’t know who the man was.

When Dolapo came the next day, she still couldn’t place him but he said he was a good friend of his elder brother. Anyway, we all went out together and I guess I fell in love with him there and then.

“It was the beginning of another meaningful relationship for me. I finished my studies and got a job just to be near him. He was all the things Cornelius wasn’t and we constantly talked about marriage. But he put his foot down about getting married before he qualified and I re-

luctantly agreed. A year after we met. I had his son.

I wasn’t married to him then, I just couldn’t get an abortion that easily abroad and besides we would be getting married soon.

“I left London before he did. I wanted to visit his parents but he asked me not to. He would prefer for both of us to visit them together. I thought they knew about me all along and he assured me they did. I was a bit defiant the day I left my office in Lagos and went to his posh home at Ikoyi. His parents didn’t look like they ’ d seen my picture and when I mentioned his name. they motioned for me to come in. His mother was a bit talkative. Did he send a letter? It was a long time he wrote and when she wrote him about his son being ill, he didn’t even reply. Was he alright?

“At first, I thought I was in the wrong house but then I saw the photograph of Dolapo in a corner of the house and my doubts vanished. But who was this son they were talking about?

“I told his mother 1 didn’t have any letter for her and instinct kept me from telling her about us.

As we chatted. she told me about Dolapo, how she implored him not to get married until he finished his studies. But he insisted and they had to pay for

him to come down for the wedding. His wife, a university graduate had his son six months after the wedding.

“The pieces fell in. So the first time I met Dolapo and he told me he’d just come back from having a nice holiday, he’d just been back from getting married. What stopped him from telling his mother everything I would never know.

“The next day I wrote Dolapo about what I’d learnt. He never bothered to write back. I was already 28 then and was fed up to the back of my teeth with relationship problems. 1 didn’t take men seriously and the years rolled by. Six years ago, I met a married man and had twins by him.

He still maintains the kids we have together. Whenever he stops I’ll be in a perfect position to cope. I have a good job and healthy children. I don’t think I’ll ever want to try for marriage again. I have had enough!”

Segun is now 40 years old. Ten years ago, he was a dashing man-abouttown. Very tall, good-looking and with lots of money ... he had scores of attractive females at his beck and call. He even had his pictures in the papers once emphatically saying in an interview that marriage was not for him. I ran into him a few days back. The years have taken their toll on him but he still manages to look good - despite his pouch. He still has money and his drink is still strictly champagne - which he always carried about in the boot of his car for emergencies’ . I asked if he was married now and he roared with laughter. “I meant it when I said I would never get married,” he told me, a devilish twinkle in his eyes.

“Why should I? My father never did and he had me and lots of other kids to boot! Never believe it when they tell you that as a man gets older, he would, consider having a permanent relationship with a girl.

That’s all a load of bull!

“To be frank I met a girl who came close to being the lucky one. She was very pretty and just out of the

university when we met and I saw her regularly. For two years we were very close and I was prepared to sacrifice my principle of no marriage for her. Unfortunately I discovered she was stringing me along. All the time I thought I was her number one love, her fiance was abroad studying. Two weeks before he arrived, she told me all about the promise she made to him and the fact that both sets of parents had already known about the relationship. She couldn’t back out.

“It wasn’t her fault really, I never gave her the impression that I was very serious about her and since she wasn’t the only girl calling at the house, she naturally assumed she was one of the crowd. I was only a stand in for when her fiance arrived.

“When he did, I even took her to the airport to meet him and it was my car she used as her bridal. Isn’t that a laugh! When I saw her in the church, I had a big lump in my throat. This was a girl whose body I knew every inch of, who I was madly in love with and she was now promising to love and cherish another man. It was then I knew what I was to be heart-broken.

“It took me quite a while to get over her, believe me.

But since then, I’ve never had anyone quite like her.

To this day, we’re still very good friends. I help out financially whenever she asks and we even make love once in a while.

“It’s funny the length some girls will go to pester you when they know you have money to spend. I have three boys now by two women and the women are always quarrelling. They come to my house regularly because the kids live with me - I won’t have it any other way. Suppose I had married the girls and they were both living with me? Heaven knows what peace of mind I would have. I am not a one woman man. I love girls and I get tired of old girlfriends easily. As long as you have money, finding the right girls won’t be much of a problem. So why complicate things by getting married?”

cured. Learn to secure your relationship because once broken it's not easy to mend. Lots of love.

Romantic Angel.

Romantiqueangel@gmail.com, 08026618663

air but, put me in your heart so that each time your heart beat you will always remember that I love you.

Kelechi Ndubisi kconeofafrica@yahoo.com, 08032900530

Unforgetable experience

Love never expires, it never retires, it is always on fire. The most dreadful flood of life cannot quench its desires. It is never for hire, but always aspires. My love, you've made me who I am. I love you.

Omorville Umoru omorville@yahoo.com, 08062486549

Falling in Love is an unforgetable experience, it lasts in our memory forever. don't keep me in your eyes less some day I may fall down as tears, don't keep me in a bottle I may slip out of your hand and break into pieces, don't put me close to a fire, I may get burnt and turn into ashes, or evaporate into the

My Lady

08038797372, Auchi, Edo State.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013—PAGE 25

BY BOSE ADELAJA

S

even days after an illfated Toyota Hilux van plunged into Majidun river in Ikorodu area of Lagos, the exact number of victims is yet to be ascertained. While an eye witness account gave the figure as four, local divers, Nigerian Navy and other emergency agencies said only one body was recovered.

The van, with number plate KSF918AU, belonging to Ikoyi Golf Club, was said to have plunged into the river around 5.30am after an all night event at the club. While some eye witnesses said the driver, who was also the Club manager was in company of three others, some staff of the Club said their manager was a lone occupant of the vehicle.

Another version of the report said the deceased Kolawole Ahmed gave a ride to three others, but a colleague of the deceased said the passengers alighted at Palm grove busstop leaving the lone occupant in the vehicle.

An eye witness, who simply gave his name as Olasupo Fadipe, said he was excreting around the area when, the vehicle plunged into the river. ‘’The vehicle was floating on the river and the occupants shouting ‘help, help’, and I ran out of the bush to knock at people’s doors for help but before I came back, waves of the river had taken the vehicle away.”

The incident caused a hitch in traffic for some hours but the effort of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority later saved the situation.

Also, the cause of the acci-

VAN’S FATAL PLUNGE INTO LAGOS RIVER

The lingering puzzle over victims

•The ill-fated van being removed from the river dent could not be ascertained as some of the sympathisers attributed it to recklessness or drunkenness of the deceased while others believed it was as a result of bad road.

While some sympathisers blamed the incident on the victim(s) for plying the highway when he they was were supposed to be observing a rest, others blamed government for lack of prompt response to emergency services.

One of the sympathisers, Mrs. Rukayat Oladele, said the incident was caused by government insensitivity which ought to have barricad-

ed the river against fatal plunges. While the incident occurred around 5.30am, only the police and Lagos State Fire Service arrived the scene on time, but could not make any impact until the arrival of the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, and any navy who recovered the vehicle around 9.30am.

The search continued the following day and the driver ’s body was recovered around 8.23am but efforts to recover other bodies proved abortive as the rescue agencies combed the river for several hours before they eventually left the

scene.

An eye witness, who pleaded anonymity, said he was driving very close to the ill-fated van. “I sensed danger as soon as we got to Itowolo but I never knew it would end that way. The vehicle moved haphazardly about 20 metres to the river which it plunged into before I could raise the alarm.’’

NEMA commiserates with victim’s family

N

EMA has, in the mean time, commiserated with the recovered victim’s family. In a statement signed

by its South West Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, it said, ‘’While we commiserate with the family and staff of the victim, we need to state that the identified body of Mr. Kolawole Ahmed, who drove the ill-fated Toyota Hilux, van, was recovered at 8:23 a.m on Sunday. The possibility of further recovery is highly remote although eyewitnesses, who gave the account of four people in the vehicle, have maintained their views but accounts of the Ikoyi Golf Club contradicts the witnesses. Nevertheless, the emergency agencies are working towards further searches. The staff said Mr. Ahmed was heading to his house under construction which was his daily routine after close of work before going to his house at Ikeja. He might have picked some people on his way after dropping his colleagues.

“The body had been deposited at the General Hospital, Ikorodu in company of his relations and staff for documentation, immediate collection and burial as the victim was a Muslim. We commiserate with the family and staff of the victim.’’

The incident occurred barely three months after a Toyota Sienna bus plunged from the Third Mainland Bridge into the lagoon but the occupants were immediately rescued by local divers.

How man killed friend over girlfriend

BY EMMA UNA, Calabar

O

ne Abraham Bepeh of Betukwel community in Obubu Local Government Area of Cross River State has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing his friend identified as Richard Beshel Mashok with whom he had been having running battle over a girlfriend, Miss Anna Ushie.

Abraham is with the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Calabar, where the Officerin-Charge (OC) of Homicide, Mr. Joseph Inuyashe, said he is to explain what caused him to kill the deceased.

According to the police, during interrogation, Abraham described his victim as “my close friend”, alleging that “Richard was the first who attempted to eliminate me over the girl both of us were in love with, Miss Anna Ushie, a student of Immaculate (Annunciation) Secondary School, Ohong”.

To convince the police, Abraham, who displayed some scars on his neck, legs, hands and chest, alleged that he had a face-off with Richard, following which the deceased inflicted on him machete cuts.

Abraham allegedly dropped out of school at JSS3 because of cult activities, while the deceased was said to have recently graduated with a degree in education and was attached to Immaculate (Annunciation} Secondary School, Ohong-Obudu as a teacher. On the day of the incident, Richard was said to have left a salon where he went to barb his hair and was taking his clothes to a dry cleaner when he ran into Abraham who accosted him, saying they should finish what they had started some weeks earlier.

A fight was said to have ensued and Abraham reportedly brought out a dagger and stabbed the deceased on the neck and took to his heels in an attempt to escape arrest and possible jungle justice. But some boys went after him and caught him.

“Chiefs and leaders from the neighbouring communities of the two friends had waded into the matter, advising the duo to sheathe their sword and embrace peace but they did not”, a source said.

Richard, our source said, was fined a goat, and Abraham two cartons of beer by the chiefs to end the rift, but Abraham stood in their midst and pro-

tested, saying the fine imposed on Richard was not proportionate to the series of assault the deceased had unleashed on him. Determined to fight on, Abraham boasted in anger at the village square saying, “ you have enjoyed your goat meat and two cartons of beer, for me it is not over until it is over” Efforts to save Richard’s life did not yield any result as he died before reaching the Obubu General Hospital where he was rushed to for medical attention.

Abraham, who spoke with Sunday Vanguard in his cell, said, “The boy was a secret cult member. He was initiated into Vikings in 2002, long before I was initiated.

“We used to fight because of one girlfriend we were sharing and I told him that since he had seized Anna from me, let him leave me alone but he would not. Whenever we came across each other, he would ask me if I was coming for attack, opening his shirt to show a locally made pistle concealed in his trousers”.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

By Hugo Odiogor & Evelyn Usman

O

nicha Ugbo,located in

Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, was, recently, in the news, following reports of alleged rape of women in the community

by Hausa/Fulani herdsmen. Aside this was the report of rancor over the choice of one of its prominent sons as the Odogwu -designate( a traditional administrator).

But in this interview after the “Ida nzu” ceremony penultimate Saturday, in Onicha-Ugbo, where the Executive Vice Chairman of Exxon Mobil and publisher of Hints magazine, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, bagged the Odogwu title, the Obi of Onicha Ugbo, Agbogidi Chukwumalieze the first, bares his mind on the activities of Hausa/Fulani cattle rearers, saying they might have a motive than mere rearing of cattle in his community.

Excerpts:

What is the celebration all about ?

Well, you call it celebration. But the celebration is yet to come. In any case, what is actually going on is that our last Odogwu, in the person of Justice Maido, passed on last November and, because of Christianity and modernization, the burial rites took place within a very short time otherwise, traditionally, it is supposed to be longer than that.

With his death, the seat became vacant and there was clamor for the Odogwu stool to be filled. But Odogwu is not a title anybody in Onicha Ugbo can take. There is a particular village that takes the title.

For instance, Onicha Ugbo is a community made up of five villages and each is entitled to a particular traditional title. Ogbobi village, for instance, has Esama title; Isepe has Odogwu title ; Obekenu has Iyese title; Unulu has Aza; while Agba has another type of culture because of certain things that happened in the past. Their own title is Iyese too.

Now, when the late Odogwu passed away, the stool became vacant. And it is only from Isepe that an Odogwu will emerge. It is not my duty to appoint one. It is the duty of the Isepe people to appoint. They are to come together and choose a particular person. When they started bringing different persons, I gave them eight market days to rub minds and decide to pick one particular person. I gave that order to the head of the Isepe people , in the person of Odafe, during one of the council meetings.

At the expiration o f that eight market days, he(Odafe) came and appealed that they had not been able to decide and asked for another four market days. Again, after the expiration of that four days,he came and told me that they were still unable to reach a consensus and begged me to give them more time. I said go ahead.

I was in Abeokuta for a meeting with other traditional rulers from Anioma, when they called to ask if they could come the next day that they have chosen somebody . I told him I would send for him at my arrival.

When I returned I sent for the Isepe heads.When they assembled, I asked Odafe ( their spokesman) who they had agreed to be their Odogwu and he gave the name as Dr. Ibe Kachukwu.

These Fulanis are no cattle rearers, they are rapists — Obi Onicha-Ugbo •Kachukwu bags Odogwu title

•Top: Cattle rearers. Bottom: Chukwumalieze But the person in question was not in town. He was in the United States of America then. He was chosen in absentia. When he came back, we decided to chalk him (initiate him) and, today, he is at the palace to confirm his acceptance of the chalking(initiation ) as the Odogwu, that is to say, he has accepted . That is why I said it is not yet a ceremony but acceptance of the offer to be the Odugwu(warrior ) of this community.

It was in the news recently that your community had problem with Fulani cattle rearers. What actually happened?

The matter has been taken to the governor. We tabled it at a meeting in Warri. You see, the Hausa /Fulani are not rearing cattle here. They are looking for something. We are beginning to discover that they are here for something else.

Tell me, if you are rearing your cattle, won’t you take them to the bush to eat grass and drink water? Why will they rape women in their farms? Why do they eat people’s yams? Why do they take people’s property? Is that what they are expected to do? Eat grass and go if you are rearing cattle . But no!

They will see a blossom farm and lead their cows to eat up farmers cassava , yam, corn and what have you. We have tolerated these people enough and have, therefore, shifted everything to the state government to look into it.

Kidnapping has assumed a worri-

some dimension and it’s rampart in the eastern part of the country.

What are you doing to secure your community against this scourge?

O nicha Ugbo has a very formidable vigilance group. The police has no power anymore. If you go to the police station in Onicha -Ugbo now , you will not see more than one or two persons; the Division’s officer and one other person. Police cannot cope with the issue of kidnapping at the moment and it is not their fault but that of government. This is because they are not well equipped . Go to Onicha Ugbo police station and see whether you will find policemen there..

What is the place of Onicha Ugbo in the Anioma kingdom?

I don’t think I have to blow my own trumpet.

You know Iseluku, Onicha Ugbo and other towns around. It is you that will access Onicha Ugbo and know whether there is progress or not. I think you should give us the situation report of the community.

The only thing I can tell you is that we are never hostile to strangers. As for me, I grew up in Yoruba land and even schooled there and they never hurt me one day. . With that spirit , I protect the interest of strangers in this town.

You can go and ask. Call any Yoruba man or Igbo man in this town and ask him how is Obi I treating him or her. If you ask three people, two will tell you that Obi Chukwumalieze is nice to strangers. But I do not know whether we are better than Iseluku and other communities around in terms of social lives and what

have you.

When you read the report that Onitcha-Ugbo was boiling over the Odogwu issue, what was your reaction?

At first, I was taken aback. But when I read the report over , I discovered that the reporter did not put his name and concluded he could have been bought over.

I am not a journalist but I know, for sure, that if a reporter did not put his name, then, he has betrayed the ethic of journalism and something needs to be done about that.

Back to the Odogwu stool, did you throw your weight behind the Odogwu designate? To make it milder, what has been his contribution to the progress of Onicha Ugbo as a community to warrant his nomination among others?

His contribution is enormous.

I will only mention three. When I ascended the throne in 1999, Onitcha-Ugbo was the only town that had no access road to the expressway and that issue was like an arrow in my heart.

Everyday, I kept asking God what we could do? It was not something we could contribute money to construct. How much are you going to tell a market woman or a peasant farmer to contribute?.

But one day, I was driving to Iseluku when I saw people working on that access road. They did it from this road down to the expressway. I was surprised. I approached the present Iyese who was the contractor and asked , oga, who say make una come do this work? He said it was Dr Ibe Kachukwu.

The following morning, I went back to that road and discovered they had started taring it.

So, I went to his house and asked if he was the person constructing the road. He said yes, that it was just part of his support to his community.

I came back and summoned my council chiefs and told them my opinion to give Dr Kachukwu a chieftaincy title, they agreed. We wrote to him but he came back and said he would not accept it except his father gave his consent but that it won’t stop him from helping his community.

But, at last, he took the title of Esaba of Ezechime. That is one.

He has given more than 900 people scholarship. Not only in Onitcha-Ugbo but in all Ezechime kingdom. And he is still doing it. . Again, you see, he bought motorbikes for most people ridding motorcycles in Onicha Ugbo.

Legal tussle against Olubadan stool adjourned OLA AJAYI, IBADAN N Oyo State High Court has given more time to Mr. Yisau Olaogun and others who represent Lagelu Aboke family to regularise all court process in preparation for the hearing of a suit filed against the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana and others. The Lagelu Aboke family is praying the court to declare that its non-incorporation as part of royal lineages to be appointable into Olubadan-in-Council is against the native law and custom of Ibadanland. Also, they are seeking an order of the court to direct the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, the Attorney General of the state and the Olubadan of Ibadan to incorporate the claimants into the chieftaincy lineages. The family, who claimed to be descendants of Lagelu, the founder of Ibadanland, expressed their displeasure at the way they were sidelined by the kingmakers in the ancient city.

A

At the sitting of the court, on Tuesday, the court, presided over by Justice Ladeinde, adjourned to June 18, 2013 for the commencement of hearing.

Before the case was adjourned, counsel to the 1st and 2nd defendants, Dupe Awosemusi, argued that the court should not consider the counter-affidavit which, she said, was served on her at the hearing by the claimants. Responding, counsel to the claimants, Mr. Diekola Rufai, said the defendants violated the provisions of Order 39 Rule 1 of the court and as such should be deemed as not filed before the court.

He said, “ whether it had been filed two or three years ago, so far it violated the rules of the court, it cannot stand. I applied for the needed documents in the file. I deliberately filed the counter-affidavit and written address. The time of this court cannot be taken against me”. The court adjourned the case to 18 June, 2013.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 27

Youth empowerment is the road to peace in Abia—Gov Orji

A

bia State Governor The odore Orji, in this inter view, speaks on his government’s youth empowerment programme, the merger by the opposition parties, Federal Government’s amnesty to Boko Haram among other issues.

What is driving the Abia State Youth Empowerment Summit initiative that will hold shortly?

What actually is driving the Abia Youth Empowerment Summit (AYES) initiative is that we realised the potency and potentials of the youths, they can be an asset and they can also be destructive if you do not manage them well. And that is why we decided to galvanise the youth energy, to empower them so that they will be very useful and helpful to the society. What gave us this experience was the kidnapping issue. During the trying times of kidnapping, we did amnesty and we discussed with the kidnappers one-on-one and were discovered that all of them were youths, very young people and most of them told us their grievances. Some of them said it was because of lack of job, some mentioned family problems, some mentioned other problems. So we got this idea that if you can get the youths together, particularly, those who are not

doing anything and empower them, even if you cannot give them jobs because it is not easy to give all of them government jobs, you can at least give them skills, you can give them implements with which they can feed or fend for themselves. It was this encounter I would say increased my passion to take care of the youths, to make them to be useful to the society and to help us also to maintain the needed security and peace.

The state is set for the youth summit. What is the expectation?

This is a follow up to the other ones that we have been doing. We have carried out this initiative at Ohafia, Abia North, we have done it in Osisioma, Abia South, we now want to do it in Umuahia, Abia Central. So we want to go round the senatorial zones, then we start going town by town. We have experimented with those zones and have seen that it is very helpful.

Now if you give an unemployed youth a brand new car, which is part of the things we give, the person can feed himself and his family with such empowement if he is resourceful. We give them tricycles and they can feed themselves with it; if you give them training in skills acquisition, they can fend for themselves; if we send them to the liberation farms that we are doing, the best will come because they will

,

BY ETOP EKANEM

During your recent visit to the US, you delivered a paper in John Hopkins University on governors and their functions and our federation? What was your position?

Yes, I delivered the paper in John Hopkins university which is a top range university. They invited me, I didn’t canvass for it. I didn’t choose the topic, they gave me the topic on good governance. I used that unique opportunity also to

Governor Theodore Orji

produce food, feed us and feed themselves and will be in a position also to establish their own farms. I know that a docile youth is very restive, but if they are occupied meaningfully, they will be beneficial not only to Abia State but the society.

What are the sectors or areas that you have touched at the moment or would want to cover over time?

I am covering the transport sector, agricultural sector, technical aspect sector, education as well as the commerce sector. These are the areas we are covering at the moment, but we intend to expand the scope. We focus mainly where the youths are mostly needed. In the education sector, we provide scholarships.

I am covering the transport sector, agricultural sector, technical aspect sector, education as well as the commerce sector

,

woo investors to come and for sure the lecture was a window opened for most investors that were present. We talked about good governance, functions of governors and I gave a detailed account of functions of the governors, drawing from the constitution.

Looking from the prism of what you have been able to achieve so far, what do you consider your greatest achievements?

My achievements are numerous and I don’t know where to start or end, but the major one which I continue to tell people was my ability to liberate Abians, to express their opinions and be participants in

The agony of a mother on her cerebral palsy child

By Ephraim Oseji For 17 years, Mrs. Alaba Gbadebo was in agony, as she struggled to care for her son, Olaoulwa, suffering from cerebral palsy.

For a mother who had given birth to two children, Mrs. Gbadebo noticed, right from birth, signs in her new born baby which were different from her two other children. Firstly, she got him through Caesarian operation and medical records had it that the baby delayed crying for an hour. She became more worried about her new born baby when, in the following days, instead of seeing progressive development in him, the child started exhibiting signs of seizure, weak neck, and was not responding to breast milk. He cried incessantly.

Because of the strange development, after six months, Mrs. Gbadebo and her husband, AVM Gbadebo (RT D ) , w h o was then an airforce officer serving in Kano, relocated to Lagos where he felt he could be closer home and give proper attention to the ailment of their new baby.

It was however in Lagos that the

ailment was first diagnosed by Dr Sheyi Robert, a neurologist and family friend, as cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is used to describe a group of chronic condition affecting body movement and muscles coordination. It is caused by damage to one or more areas of the brain, usually occurring during foetal development or during infancy. It has no cure. It could only be managed. Everything about the treatment and management ailment is expensive.

After the diagnosis, Mrs. Gbadebo started searching for remedy for their child. She travelled to London, America and India.

Her husband was not left out in attempt to provide succour for their physically challenged child.

After her husband retirement, he joined her in taking care of the child.

The mother, who said they had accepted their fate on the child, explained, “A mother with cerebral palsy child has a lot of challenges. She has to think of the home, the other children, her husband and her work. She must plan to juggle these things. She

has to be active and attentive because a child with cerebral palsy demands so much. It is a twenty four-hour care. At home, I have two nurses who attend to my son.

Their duties are to change his nappies, both him and ensure he gets all treatment. There is a man on standby who carries him as he cannot walk. ” Despite the disability, Mrs Gbadebo said, “My child is highly intelligent. His hearing is perfect. It is only that he cannot talk.

He has very few words like mama, dad, go. He also uses his body language to respond to questions by smiling or nodding.

He shows appreciation and identifies people. He understands everything, but he cannot write or say it.

“Nobody can understand what a mother with a child suffering from cerebral palsy is going through. There is a lot of depression. At times, I do not want to get up from bed because I do not know where to start from. But you will realize that your child needs you, other children need you, your husband needs you. It has taken my time and made me to travel all over the world. It is not an easy journey. I thank

Mrs Alaba Adeyemi Gbadebo God for standing by me. My husband stood by me. Most Nigerian men will run. My husband is supportive and fully engaged in making sure he showed example to Nigerian men.”

She disclosed that their long time goal is to build BENOLA Cerebral Palsy Centre in Lagos, where they would have inhouse doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses and social workers to be saddled with the responsibility of treating and managing children with the ailment.

“We intend having all the medical professional specialists in the centre so that patients will be going there for management and treatment at least three times a week. I use my son as example. When we went to India, I took my son to the Cerebral

their government. Secondly, I have been able to bring peace in Abia.

It is no longer news that before now the people were polarised, many were living in Abuja and refused to come back, those living in Lagos refused to come back and these were prominent people in the state, stakeholders, those who were founders of this state, some who founded the state and are old and could not travel outside were made to stay in their homes without coming out but right now, I have been able to bring all of them together as one family. When we do this youth empowerment, you will see the calibre of people that will come. There is optimism in the air about the All Progressive Congress (APC) merger and even in Abia state the opposition say they will floor the PDP through the APC platform. How possble?

How are they going to dislodge the PDP? This is politics, people have to make noise, people have to market themselves, whether they are good or bad, you will say you are the best. These comments are all about politics but what I will tell you is that PDP is a very strong party. It is because they are afraid of the PDP, that is why they are ganging up. It is not easy to dislodge PDP. PDP is a very strong party that grows stronger and stronger on daily basis. All the experiences of these merger people will be behaving, PDP has had it and is overcoming all of them and is going to the next level. So we in the PDP are not pertubed and in Abia State, what can the APC or the opposition do? We have 24 house of assembly members and there is no other party that won any seat, so tell me are they going to do magic in 2015?

Palsy Centre in New Delhi. The treatment was free of charge.

That is what BENOLA intends doing so that we can handle the problem of management for very poor families. We are not talking of families that can afford it, but those families who cannot afford.

These are pepper grinder, tomatoes seller and petty traders.

“We will be able to supply those affected drugs prescribed by the doctor monthly. We also plan to bring the drugs from India which is relatively cheaper. Apart from medication, they are expected to bring the children for physiotherapy three times a week. It is a multi-disciplinary centre.

I cannot say exactly how much it will cost, but I know that it will run into millions of dollars.

“Our starting the centre depends on how soon we get the resources from both external and internal sponsors. We are not running a home. Rather we are helping homes. Right now we have four homes we are helping. Those who have cases of cerebral palsy in their areas should come together and contact us so that we can have a family forum. We need a catchment area. Do not hide your child. Come and mix with others so that you can have proper management.” Mrs Gbadebo appealed to government, corporate organizations, international donors and well- meaning Nigerians to assist them on the project in creating joy for children suffering from cerebral palsy.

PAGE 28 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

Lagos ACN’s tenure elongation for LG councils exposed — Obanikoro 2015: ’PDP’s plan to upstage ruling party in Lagos’ Well, it is feasible to the extent that I and Chief Olabode George are fully reconciled. And, of late, Senator Ogunlewe has fully reconciled with Chief Olabode George. There are still some key political actors who are not in yet, but I want you to know that all efforts are in place to ensure that we are all together and that we can speak, at the end of the day, with one voice.

With all that said, don’t forget that politics itself is about conflict resolution. That we will have graveyard peace in the party, I doubt that because that will never happen in a political environment, but the question is: have we been able to reconcile to the extent that all interests can be protected? The answer is yes. Do we want to go beyond to ensure that the party wins elections? The answer is yes. And

major road arteries within Lagos metropolis, which is the commercial hub of Nigeria, does not suffer. That, to me, is being responsible.

If you go beyond that, the railway is gradually finding its way back and it is becoming another means of transportation. Don’t forget that for long, that did not exist. You may say that the power sector reform that we have been doing for over 12 years now is slow in coming to fruition. But I want to tell you that we are beginning to have a grab of the whole situation.

Just of recent, the Federal Government was able to achieve the last part of its disengagement of total control from power management in Nigeria.

I am sure that once these private companies settle down, we will begin to see the effect of what we have put in

I and Chief Olabode George are fully reconciled. And, of late, Senator Ogunlewe has fully reconciled with Chief Olabode George.

There are still some key political actors who are not in yet, but I want you to know that all efforts are in place to ensure that we are all together and that we can speak, at the end of the day, with one voice

,

, — Obanikoro

BY Dapo Akinrefon

M

usiliu Olatunde Obanikoro, popularly known as Koro, served as Senator for Lagos State from 2003–2007, and was later appointed the High Commissioner to Ghana. In this interview, Obanikoro dismisses the insinuation that he is no longer visible in politics. He also explains that the PDP is putting its house in order to enable it take over Lagos State in 2015.

While he berates the state government as not being sensitive to the plight of Lagosians, he picks hole in the proposed elongation of the tenure of local government chairmen in the state. Excerpts: Many people are worried that you have been absent from the political scene especially since your last assignment. What exactly have you been involved in?

To say I have been active is to say that I have been visible. I have deliberately not been visible because I just returned from a national assignment as an ambassador and, you must also

bear in mind that once there is a government in place, it makes a lot of sense to allow it to stabilize before you start criticizing it..

You must allow government to make mistakes and, then, if after you have given sufficient time for necessary corrections to be made and those corrections are not made, you can begin to lash out on things you believe should be done and things that should not be done. May be I have taken a quiet path politically, but I have been quiet in the sense that I have been working within the party to bring about harmony within the rank and file.

Losing elections after elections does not make sense for a politician who wants to add value to the society. And so, what I have been doing in the last one year is putting up very serious efforts towards reconciliation within our party so that we can present ourselves as a formidable force against the ruling government in Lagos State.

Do you think reconciliation is feasible in your party?

Yes. Especially with the heavyweights in the state chapter always at each other’s throat?

so, if politics is about interest and about conflict resolution, then, there is no doubt in my mind that we are together.

But your party appears disadvantaged in the sense that, at the federal level, the perception is that the PDP is just there and in power but we can’t see things. One way or the other, it has an effect on your party at the state level.

It is propaganda and I make bold to say that.

That the PDP is not performing at the federal level?

You cannot claim that we are not performing. Let us take Lagos for instance, which is the economic capital of the country. Today, we have all the major roads in Lagos State being attended to by the Federal Government.

If you look at the road leading to Apapa, you will see that there is massive construction going on there and also the Third Mainland Bridge. We have continually been rehabilitating that bridge, don’t forget that it was done under Yar ’Adua and, of late, President Jonathan has also done the same thing. That is to ensure that the

place in terms of power reform in Nigeria.

I know Nigerians are very patient people to the extent that this reform has gone on for quite some time now and people are becoming agitated, they want to see the immediate result of what government is doing. I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that, given the commitment of Mr President, something will be achieved hopefully by next year. We will see the effect of power generation and distribution. Beyond that is the Petroleum Industry Bill which is key to development of this country. If we are able to get that through, local participants in the energy sector will also get a lot of boost; the restiveness in the oil producing communities will be addressed and, once we are able to get that area right, the derivatives from crude oil can also become another source of revenue generation and employment for the people of Nigeria.

In agriculture, as a government, we have put an end to fertilizer racketing which has gone on probably since the beginning of Nigeria as a country and which became more pronounced un-

Continues on page 29

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 — PAGE 29

Continued from page 28 der the military administration. But now, our government has stopped that, we are now giving direct value in the area of fertilizer to farmers. In rice production, this administration has concentrated seriously, given the amount of money that is expended on the importation of rice. In the next two to four years, we are going to get to a point of self sufficiency in rice production.

We are working, but the opposition will never see anything good in your government because if they see anything good in our government, then, they have no business asking people to vote for them. The truth of the matter is that progress is being made, it may be slow, but we understand the pains people have gone through and are going through, but we can practically evaluate the steps that are being taken and the results we are getting from all these ventures that the Federal Government is doing to improve the standard and quality of lives in this country.

Would you agree that Nigerians have this perception that nothing is working?

To say nothing is working will be grossly unfair.

Or that things are bad?

Thing are not at the level they should be, I agree. Are we as a government in a hurry to perform? Yes. But don’t also forget that while we are striving to achieve, we cannot afford to make too many mistakes. And when you are so much in a hurry and you are not reflecting on some of these policies that are being churned out, then you will discover that you are just being penny wise and pound foolish. At the same time, we are being careful. But don’t forget that we had policies in the past that did not benefit the people they were intended to serve.

By a PDP government?

No. I am talking about under military rule. We have had policy failures; the problem of Nigeria did not start today and did not start under the PDP. When the PDP came to power, the country was at a precipe and so stabilizing Nigeria became a major agenda for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Do not let us deceive ourselves, this is a complex country to govern and on top of that there are other responsibilities.

But I will not shy away from the fact that we are confronting huge challenges and we are we solving them? Yes. Do we need to accelerate them? I agree that we need to accelerate them so that people can feel the impact. To say that nothing is being done or that things are bad, I think it is just being unfair to the government of the day.

Do not get me wrong, I interact with people everyday as a grassroots person and I do know their pains but let me tell you that those pains are not being inflicted by the Federal Government.

Then who is responsible?

I will say it is being inflicted by the state and local governments. People are agitating for the restructuring of Nigeria and I will support it. We must change the way we do business; if you have run your business in a particular way for a length of time and it did not work for you, I think it makes sense for you to change the way you do that business.

You did talk about states and local governments and accused them of inflicting pains on Nigerians, but I

— Obanikoro

2015: ’PDP’s plan to upstage ACN in Lagos’ will say it is an accumulation of long years of neglect. But how will you reconcile the states inflicting pains on the people?

It is very simple. The closest form of government to the people is the state and local governments. Let us take Lagos as a case study. When Yar’Adua became president, there was cumulative revenue withheld at the centre because of the inability of the state to follow procedures as enshrined in the Constitution. Don’t get me wrong, I am for creation of more local governments in Lagos State, but following due process is germane in a democracy.

And so, the money was withheld by the Federal Government. As soon as the Yar ’Adu government came, he released the money to the state government. Do you know what happened?

The money was shared.

How? That money was shared by the leadership of the ruling party in Lagos State.

Imagine if N32 billion had been applied to address key issues. That is why I said that the states and local governments have a role to play in cushioning the hardship in the society.

You talked about local government creation and following the right procedure. Your son contested and was declared winner of a council area but the appeal tribunal later upturned his victory. How do you see the whole process?

That is very sad for our state and for

the country. Lagos is the most cosmopolitan state in Nigeria, we are supposed to be a pacesetter, but when Lagos is now reduced to one of the states in Nigeria, it pains me because what we have reduced our state to, with that illegality, is one of the states.

Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Mobolaji Johnson gave their all into the service of the state and we are still profiting from that; there is no doubt in my mind that they ever envisaged a situation where somebody will win an election in this state and his election will be annulled.

God forbid. I doubt it if we are ever going to have a local government election in this state and people will be raped like the last time and you expect them to go to a tribunal. They won’t, they will rather take laws into their hands and that will be sad. They thought they are throwing their weight around, but they are just being ignorant because if they are not ignorant, they will not invite anarchy.

What they have done technically without knowing is that they have invited anarchy. When another election comes and people are raped the way they were raped, they may take laws into their hands. The fight will be on the streets and it will be sad. When you take the last hope of the common man away from them, what you have done is to expect the worst from them.

They dehumanize the people who went out and even took dignity out of the process and they are even con-

templating elongating the tenure of those who stole people’s mandate. Tell me, what can be worse than that? And these are supposed to be democrats.

You are sending a signal that it will not be business as usual with the way your son came out smoking in victory. What strategy is your party putting in place for the 2015 elections in Lagos State?

I am not going to discuss our party strategy on the pages of newspaper, but let me tell you that what we did last year, in terms of our participation in the local government elections, was to test run our participation in the 2015 elections. They got the message but they may pretend that they did not, otherwise, they would not talking about elongation of tenure of council chairmen and councilors, That is another rape which shows that this ACN government is arrogant and insensitive. It is like changing the rule of the game in the middle of the game. There is a law in the state that says people must serve for three years.

Let us put aside the illegalities that happened in council areas like Ikoyi/ Obalende, Badagry, Epe and Shomolu, the fact that they are even deliberating on it is an insult and an assault on the sensibilities of the people of Lagos State. We know what is going on and we will resist it. They think they can just do things and get away with it, but those days are gone.

We will challenge them on the streets of Lagos and in the court of law. Let them dare elongate the tenure of council chairmen and you will see the massive protests that we are going to lead in this state to tell them that enough is enough.

Let me also explain to you what we have discovered and which has now been exposed about the ACN’s plot regarding tenure elongation for local government councils in Lagos.

Will that see you coming out in 2015?

There is no doubt that we need to engage these people seriously and if you look at the arrogance and insensitivity that is going on in the state, then there is need to save Lagos. When a government goes to Makoko area and displace people who have been there for close to 70 years, they have lost legitimacy; they went to Ijora and did the same thing. They are reclaiming land not in the interest of the public but for personal reasons.

Alhaji Jakande sand filled the entire Lekki axis during his administration; he does not have a plot there as we speak today. He didn’t then and he does not have now. We have deviated and that is violating peoples’ rights and violation of the environment.

That also is greed in every sense of it. I can go on and on. Is it the LASU school fees that was hiked from N25, 000 to N250,000 that we want to talk about?

There are so many issues going on in Lagos State today that make me nauseated and all it takes for evil to thrive is for good people to remain quiet in the face of rape, gross violation and injustice.

Can we get value for our money? I tell you we can and that is why people like us are worried because we have given them enough time to work.

This is the time to point out the areas that the state is suffering and why Lagosians must throw ACN or APC, whatever they call themselves, out of Lagos in 2015. They have lost touch with reality, they have lost touch with the people of the state and it is about time we usher in a new era.

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

The historical plight and precarious future of Igbo people—Kalu Extracts from a speech delivered by Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, and coordinator of Njiko Igbo, to the British House of Commons on April 18, 2013

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IGBO AND THE PROVERBIAL RAINFALL Permit me at this point to invoke an ancient African idiom which has its roots in Igbo wisdom: onye na amaghi ebe mmiri bidoro mawa ya, agaghi ama ebe o kwusiri (He who does not recognise the point at which the rain began to beat him would not recognise when the rain ceases to fall altogether).

For Igbo people in Nigeria, the rainfall ensued in the early 19th century when the British first explored the Lower Niger (I will put aside, for today ’s purposes, the preceding hellfire that was black African slavery and the Igbo’s share of hell in it).

The rain began to beat us from January 1914 when Lord Fredrick Lugard completed the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates into Colonial Nigeria and became its first Governor-General.

The Igbo did not have a say as to whether they desired to become a part of such a contraption or not.

The clouds lifted ever so briefly and the Igbo enjoyed a brief sunshine in Nigeria in the decade before and a

few years after independence. Having embraced Christianity and western education with enthusiasm, they quickly rose to hold sway in the federal civil service, military, academia, commerce and industry – the Jews of West Africa were on the march, toiling, sweating and swinging upwards, to the envy and hatred of their compatriots.

The Igbo in Nigeria became quickly drenched in that awesome rain by way of separate episodes of pogrom: the Jos massacre in 1945, the Kano massacre in 1953 and the September 29, 1966 massacre in which tens of thousands of Igbo men, women and children were slaughtered. This last event led directly to the civil war of 1967-1970, which in turn resulted in mass starvation and deliberate antiIgbo genocide.

And the rain has not abated. The bloody rain has continued to beat Igbo people, resulting in organised antiIgbo massacres in Kano in 1980, Maiduguri in 1982, Yola in 1984, Gombe in 1985, Kaduna in 1986, Bauchi in 1991, Funtua in 1993, Kano in 1994, Damboa in 2000 and the Apo 6 massacre in 2005.

The ongoing nihilistic slaughter of Igbo people by an extremist militant group known as Boko Haram is yet to be documented. But there can be no question that a disproportionate percentage of the thousands of victims, dead or maimed or permanently impoverished, is made up of Igbo people.

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WHO ARE THE IGBO? Y people are known as the Igbo and our language is Igbo.

Igbo people constitute one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria – what Nigerian historians have come to term the tribal tripod. The other two are the Yoruba and the Hausa/Fulani.

The primary Igbo states in Nigeria are Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu (if justice and equity reigned, there should have been 6 or 7, instead of just 5 states). Due to their mobility, the Igbo constitute between 25% - 60% of the population in some other Nigerian States such as Delta, Rivers, Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom and Plateau, to mention a few.

Although my people mainly and primarily inhabit the southeastern part of Nigeria, they have, however, spread, like ants in the savannah, to every nook and cranny of Nigeria, Africa and indeed the globe – thriving, building and enriching themselves, their environment and others in all facets of life as they do so.

The veteran American diplomat, Henry Kissinger, hit the nail on the head when he aptly observed: “The Ibos are the wandering Jews of West Africa... gifted, aggressive, Westernized; at best envied and resented, but mostly despised by the mass of their neighbors in the Federation.” – Henry Kissinger, MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT, Tuesday, January 28, 1969 [Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-5, Documents on Africa, 1969-1972].

•Ironsi

•Kalu

•Ojukwu

•Nzeogwu the ethnic origin of the individuals killed, as well as the eventual assumption of power by Gen. Ironsi, himself an Igboman, created the erroneous impression that the coup was an ethnic-biased putsch organised mostly by Igbo officers in furtherance of Igbo hegemonic agenda.

However, I must insist that the coup

The ongoing nihilistic slaughter of Igbo people by an extremist militant group known as Boko Haram is yet to be documented. But there can be no question that a disproportionate percentage of the thousands of victims, dead or maimed or permanently impoverished, is made up of Igbo people

,

The foregoing non-exhaustive examples occurred exclusively in northern Nigeria. They also represent occasions when Igbo people had been massacred by northern Nigerian Muslims who had been provoked not by any direct misconduct by the Igbo but perhaps because the Prophet Mohammed was insulted in Denmark by some European artist or because Allah’s name had been taken in vain in Los Angeles by an American satirist.

There is, therefore, a sense in which by simply being Igbo, Christian and entrepreneurial, the Igboman is adjudged guilty and vengeful

punishment is indiscriminately and randomly applied on a recurring basis.

THE COUP THAT CONDEMNED US ALL On 15 January, 1966, a few young Nigerian army officers led by an Igbo officer, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, carried out Nigeria’s first coup d’état. This resulted in the deaths of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, a prominent northern Nigerian of the Fulani ethnic stock and the Prime Minister, Sir Tafawa Balewa, also a northern Nigerian Fulani.

Although the coup was foiled primarily by another Igboman,

•Emeka Nigeria’s first Major-General in the Colonial Army, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, nevertheless, the belief prevailed in northern Nigeria that Hausa leaders were singled out for elimination by Igbo people who had a grand design for political dominance.

This situation gave rise to a retaliatory pogrom in which tens of thousands of Igbo people were murdered in northern Nigeria. This led to the mass flight back to the Eastern Region of as many as two million Igbo people.

It is conceded that the execution of the coup in question resulted in unintended consequences. The ethnic composition of the putschists,

Continues on page 31

SUNDAY

Continued from page 30 was purely a military affair and that the civilian Igbo population knew nothing about it and had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Gen. Ironsi himself was not part of either the planning or the execution of the coup. Once the coup plotters lost control of events, General Ironsi was invited to take office as the military Head of State by the circumstance of his position as the most high-ranking military officer and the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army at that time.

There was neither a grand Igbo civilian conspiracy to overthrow a northerncontrolled government nor to impose a unitary system of government, the phantom charges for which the Igbo people have paid and continue to pay a terrible price in Nigeria today.

It must also be noted that there have been several military coups in Nigeria since January 15, 1966 and yet the ethnic kinsmen of the perpetrators of such coups were not subjected to mass slaughter or wanton destruction of their property and places of worship.

But above all, on July 29, 1966, the northern officer corps themselves executed a retaliatory counter-coup in which the Head of State, Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi, was killed and over 300 military officers and men of Igbo origin were massacred. Why didn’t matters simply end there?

Eventually, the crisis reached its peak in May 1967 with the secession of the Igbo-dominated Eastern Region from Nigeria. The Republic of Biafra was declared and it was headed by the British public school- and Oxford-educated Colonel Chukwuemeka OdumeguOjukwu.

The secession quickly led to a civil war after talks between former army colleagues, Yakubu Gowon and Ojukwu and the Aburi peace deal collapsed.

The Republic of Biafra lasted only until January 1970 after a campaign of starvation by the Nigerian Army with the support of Egypt, Sudan and the United Kingdom led to a decisive victory for the Nigerian side.

NEGATIVE DISCRIMINATION BY LAW The Igbo in Nigeria have become the receptacle of anger, hatred, envy and frustration oozing out of their fellow compatriots. But this is on the level of the transactions between private citizens.

How about the place of the Igbo in respect of the manner in which public affairs are conducted by the Nigerian federal government and its agencies?

The simple answer is that the rain has continued to beat the Igbo. To demonstrate this, I have composed a narrow but blunt table below: The above table does not represent an opinion or a hypothesis. It represents the blatant reality of the third rate status forced upon the Igbo in the political space in Nigeria.

We, the Igbo have strived but thus far failed to persuade the Nigerian establishment about the hurt and humiliation and deprivation that come with the idea that we as a people are legally condemned to third rate status in our own country, as amply demonstrated by the above table.

The implications of this calculated fraud against my people are so massive and go entirely untold: unequal allocation of resources, unequal voice at the Federal Executive Council, unequal representation at the National Assembly (the gravest of all), unequal juridic participation in the administration of justice in the federation, unequal participation in the federal civil service and adjunct bodies, unequal representation in the armed forces and para-military organisations, unequal representation in the diplomatic corps

ensuring incapacity in showcasing the Igbo culture as part of a pan-Nigerian culture in our foreign missions and embassies, fewer primary, secondary and higher education opportunities for our children, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

These structural disparities are constitutionally entrenched (please see the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999), thus their grave implications for Ndigbo are beyond the primary questions of inequity and marginalization.

Vanguard , APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 31

for our collective action. We trust that you recognise, as we do, that power concedes nothing without a demand.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, in a paper entitled, ‘Ndigbo: An Integral Part of the Nigerian Project,’ says that the aim of the Nigerian project “...is to develop and sustain a nation in which all the constituent parts and citizens are able to pursue their self-fulfilment, and to enjoy as high a quality of life as possible;

The historical plight and precarious future of igbo people The histories of nations are replete with evidence of existential threat to any group whose marginalization is made a subject matter of constitutional enshrinement.

With unequal voice in the Federal Executive Council, in the National Assembly, on the federal judicial benches and a vast array of other fora in which the Igbo suffer sub-parity representation, the strength of the advocacy of our problems and priorities is thus diminished. Little wonder, then, that the South-East Zone, the area inhabited by the Igbo, still manifests the physical characteristics of a conquered and occupied land, 43 years after the civil war.

Quite apart from the psychological assault it represents for Igbo people, the practical issues of unequal representation and unequal allocation of resources are calculated to retard the development of our region and our people. The massive difference which the resources and human empowerment that we are denied might have made in our society is something that calls not just for a sober reflection but a gritty resolve to bring about their speedy resolution.

The Igbo tenacity, drive and relentless optimism to pursue life’s enduring dreams of family, faith and success and to overcome life’s challenges will see them through. But the world must listen to them whenever they cry out. For they have long suffered and endured in silence, as the rain continues to beat them.

Njiko Igbo Another blunt table will demonstrate why Njiko Igbo was brought into existence: A citizen of Igbo extraction has occupied the presidency or premiership or Head of Government of Nigeria for just 6 months and 13 days in the nearly 53 years of Nigerian independence. Again, this is a historical fact and not a conjecture.

The presidency of the Nigerian nation has not eluded the Igbo by accident or by an act of divinity but by human design; and it is through human pressure that we can attain it.

Njiko Igbo is the catalyst and conduit

a nation that would be a source of pride to its citizens, to Africa and to peoples of African descent all over the world.” It is in this spirit that we have, therefore, decided to set up Njiko Igbo (Igbo Unity), which is a movement dedicated to changing the power formula in Nigeria in order to obtain justice and fairness for all Nigerians. As Chief Anyaoku further said, “There are so many Igbo names in the pantheon of our country’s pioneer educationists, professionals in medicine, law, engineering, journalism, and in private business.” So, why then can’t an Igbo man or woman become president of Nigeria?

Njiko Igbo is an organisation dedicated to the struggle for the ascent of a citizen of Igbo extraction to the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015.

We are fully committed to the security and peace of our nation, and to the comradeship of a common justice and equality for all Nigerians.

We are neither supportive of nor opposed to any political party or the aspirations of any individual politician. Our primary mission is to enlighten and mobilise the Igbo population, both at home and in the diaspora, to stand firm and united in the

pursuit of our collective goal. Our secondary duty is to connect with and persuade the rest of the Nigerian population about the justice of our cause.

Njiko Igbo is waging this struggle precisely because there is an irrefutable evidence of blatant anti-Igbo bias in the manner in which the political architecture of this federation is constructed.

Gross injustice is the ultimate outcome of that deliberate discrimination. And every man or woman possessed of conscience has a duty to take a moral stand against injustice whenever and wherever it is manifest. This expression of conscience forms the tradition of the deepest values we share as a people.

The impulse to demand justice and the instinctive revolt against injustice constitute the most essential ingredients of humanity. If we recognize this philosophical essence of what truly defines our sentient nature, then we must accept that this struggle is not only inevitable but mandatory.

Our strategic operations are twopronged: (a) an intensive drive to build and foster a united front at home and, (b) an energetic national mobilization campaign to marshal public opinion and secure the solidarity and support of a majority of Nigerians.

Our methods will be conciliatory, unaggressive, solicitous and flexible but without being amenable to the old easy compromises and defensiveness that reinforced prejudicial assumptions about us as a people.

We shall seek to accomplish our mission in a manner and style deferential to elders, respectful of the sensibilities of other tribal groups and faiths, attentive to criticisms and open to disputations.

We are embarked on a big and noble dream borne out of the necessities of our history and the imperatives of justice, equity and fair-play. While our history is a proud, large and significant imprint in Nigeria, the reality of our contemporary existence has been rendered small by the politics of the Nigerian republic. These times call for self-assertion and Igbo people must rise and answer the challenges with one voice.

We are not pursuing the orthodox argument connected with the zoning of the presidency. This is, instead, a struggle for justice and equality of opportunity through the instrumentalities of persuasion, mobilization, projection of a creative vision for a stronger and successful federation.

No one should be in any doubt that the political struggles and strifes raging in this country today, and which will rage for at least another generation, represent the struggles to assert group identity and legitimacy, expressed through the mechanics of politics. Igbo people can illafford to take a passive stance in this maelstrom.

Conclusion Former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Chief Raph Uwechue says of the Igbo, in a paper entitled ‘Igbo are nation builders:’ “To the Nigerian project, the Igbo have given a great deal yesterday, are still doing so today, and have a lot more in store for a much greater tomorrow.”

It is time for the bloody rain to stop.

Igbo people are already drenched and soaked to the point of suffocation. It is not only in the best interests of the Igbo but also in the best interests of the Nigerian people for the sun to rise and shine on us all.

PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

By EVELYN USMAN

A

NYONE visiting Kadoko Konu area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, for the first time, will never suspect any act of illegality going on there, let alone suspect any of the residents whose facial disposition spells that of serious- minded individual as perpetrator.

But how wrong! A visit by Sunday Vanguard, on Tuesday, revealed that behind many buildings, particularly those built in the valley of Kokonu Konu, were secret jetties, through which acts of vandalism had been taking place for long, undetected.

Behind the buildings was a thick forest.

But on closer observation, it was discovered that the forest was only an added advantage for the vandals to conceal their criminal acts. This followed the discovery of 12 illegal jetties which paths, through the forest, link to Arepo, Ogun State, from where these vandals, who would stop at nothing to enrich their pockets, siphon petroleum products..

But the burble burst after the InspectorGeneral of Police Special Task Force on AntiPipeline vandalism uncovered the jetties used by the vandals.

Arrested, after eight -hour shoot-out with the vandals, in the wee hours of Tuesday, were four suspected members of the gang.

2,000 liters of petroleum products stored in forty 50-liter can were also recovered.

•Pipelines: (Inset)The suspected vandals Equally recovered were over 5,000 corks of cans stocked in six bags. Surprisingly, one of the suspects was alleged to be an informant to the task force.

The suspects, all residents of Kadoko Konu, were said to have built their houses close to the creeks from where they created the jetties, to facilitate movement of petroleum products.

But, considering government Admitting reluctantly to his A total of seven canoes property and in order to indulgence, Ogunleti said, “ reportedly used to convey the prevent any fire outbreak, we Yes. I use my bus to help them products were berthed at the stopped shooting at about 8am. carry fuel. At the end of each jetties. There was also a shrine But they continued firing until trip, they pay me N5,000behind one of the buildings about 10am. When they did not N6,000 . At times I go once a where the vandals reportedly hear any reply from us, I believe week or twice. I take the performed sacrifice before they started their unpleasant products to Oke-Oko junction embarking on any mission. act. “We allowed them to do where they sell to buses. I am Charms, brooms, candles and their work inside the creeks not involved in the sales, I only threads of different colors were while we condoned off the convey them to the junction . found in the shrine. entire exit points. Later, we But, I stopped working since Disclosing how the the task picked up three of them and, February. I used to work for D1. force uncovered the jetties, during interrogation, one of I was arrested Monday, after I Assistant Commissioner of them mentioned the fouth came out to fix the headlight of Police in-charge of the task person whom he identified as one of my neighbors.” force, Friday Ibadin, narrated, D1. The suspects identities “ Three days ago (lpenultimate were given as Banjo Nofiu, 33, He is lying Friday), we received Ogunleti Okanlawon, 32, - Informant information that vandals were Ahmed Bashorun alias D1 and ut his alleged boss, about going to Elepete, Nofiu Rasak.

Ahmed Bashorun, alias popularly known as Arepo to “Initially, when we started the open the valve. You know, that interrogation, they all insisted D1, discovered to be an area had been clamped since not to know anything about the informant to the task force, the last incident there. In fact, jetties or the recovered items. described Okanlanwon’s claim we have blocked the entire But after a while, one of them, as untrue. Rather, he said, “ I area, making it impossible for Ogunleti Okanlawon, normally help the IG them to penetrate. When they disclosed that he was working monitoring to locate where discovered it was blocked , they for D1, the task force vandals are. I am an informant. moved to Ijedodo, but, informant”. It was gathered I chose to work for the police unfortunately, for them, we that the Oyo State- born panel because I am close to them. were also able to tackle that. beater used his bus to convey But, I was surprised when they “Then yesterday ( last the products right from the jetty arrested these three guys this Sunday), we learnt that about behind him, to a junction from morning and was told they 80 of them were firing at where the products are sold. mentioned my name, that they Kadoko Konu area of Ikorodu.

However, during one of the were working for me.. I have We stormed there at midnight trips, his vehicles reportedly been receiving calls of threats on the phone from vandals that and exchanged fire with them. went up in flames.

Inside Lagos secret jetties

*Police, oil pipeline vandals in eight-hr gun duel

B

•One o f the houses built close to the creeks they will deal with me and my family for giving police information about their activities here. I even gave the police some of the telephone numbers through which I was threatened. Let the person that says he works for me say that to my face!.”

50 liters compensation

Also on his part, Nofiu exonerated himself from the allegation. He told Sunday Vanguard that he usually saw vandals bringing petroleum products from the jetty behind his building, but could not challenge them for fear of being killed. “ Those people are deadly. I could not confront

them because they were armed. They can kidnap and even kill one before help will come. I just packed into the building last November. The only thing is that each time they finished their business, they will give me 50 liters or 100 liters of fuel which I fill into my vehicle and power generating set. I can identify them if I see them,” the suspect said.

Asked why they never deemed it fit to report the activities of vandals to the police, the suspects claimed they were scared of being discovered to be police informants and could be killed in the process.

The suspects, according to Ibadin, would be charged to court.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 33

Row over N50,000 pre-paid meters *Labour imputs political motive

BY UDEME CLEMENT

T

C M Y K

Pre-paid meters....The government is not transparent about the handling of the issue of pre-paid meters

Power Holding Company of Nigeria....Today, we have 4,000mw and tomorrow it collapses to less than 3,500.

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HE move to make Nigerians pay between N25,000 and N50,000 for pre-paid meters under the Credited Advance Pay for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme has sparked controversy. While some people said consumers should cooperate with the Federal Government in order to fast track the process, others said government and contractors are playing politics with the issue.

Obviously, the directive on the fees on pre-paid meter is contrary to the initial pronouncement by government that the meters will be distributed free to consumers of electricity in the country to ensure accurate billings both for domestic and industrial consumption.

Sources within Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Eko Distribution Zone Lagos revealed that the directive takes effect from April 25, 2013, adding that the fees vary depending on what the individual consumer wants and the quantity of electricity consumption. It follows that consumers for three phase model may have to pay N50,000 and N25,000 for single phase.

A top official of PHCN, who spoke under anonymity at the Ikeja Distribution Zone, said, “The issue is that people need to be enlightened about the entire process for them to have a clear understanding on how the new process works. For instance, the price tag people are complaining about is just a new method fashioned out to speed up the entire process, instead of the failed free meter scheme earlier proposed by government, because, at the end of the whole exercise, the money may still be refunded to the consumers. Pre-paid meters will be a lasting solution to the issue of estimated billing, which most people blamed PHCN for. What we should understand now is that following the new approach under CAPMI arrangement, pre-paid meters are still free at the long-run.

The only thing is that advance payments are required to fast track the process, and, at the end of the exercise, the same money may be refunded through a rebate on a fixed charge element from customers’ bills. You can see that it’s very simply, because meters are free under the scheme as previously declared by government on June 1, 2012, to ensure transparency

Why should government say they want to import pre-paid meters when we can have a factory in Nigeria to produce it? Why should our economy be import dependent when other countries are growing their manufacturing sector to enhance rapid economic development?

in the system”.

However, the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, explained, “The single phase pre-paid metres would be sold for N25,000, while three phase metres will go for N50,000, the final arrangement and announcement will be made on April 25, when CAPMI rolls out fully. The process will be very effective because about five Distribution

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Companies are to be used for the pilot scheme of CAPMI, these companies include Ibadan , Eko , Benin , Abuja and Kano .

“The Commission is currently evaluating the bids submitted by various vendors.

We don’t have a specific number of vendors to use but the preferred bidders will be announced. Nigerians should be patient with us as we are working tirelessly to come out

with a hitch-free programme.

The payment process is also being looked into, to ensure that everything is transparent. The call for tenders by bidders is closed and short-listed vendors will be ratified and subsequently get approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).”

Meanwhile, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) is of the opinion that government is not transparent about the handling of the issue of pre-paid meters and epileptic power supply in the country. In a chat with Sunday Vanguard, the Assistant General Secretary, Education and International Relation, NUEE, Mr. Igwebike Dominic, said, “What we experience every time in electricity supply is system failure. There is confusion in the system. The reality is that government and contractors are playing politics with the issue of pre-paid meters.

Why should government say they want to import pre-paid meters when we can have a factory in Nigeria to produce it? Why should our economy be import dependent when other countries are growing their manufacturing sector to enhance rapid economic development?”

On whether government can realise the target of generating 10,000mw as proposed by January this year, he said, “Look at the challenge we are facing with erratic power supply in the country. Government can not even generate 4,000mw and sustain it. Today, we have 4,000mw and tomorrow it collapses to less then 3,500. This is because the system is not efficient and government is not sincere to the people. For instance, we are told to pay as much as N50,000 for pre-paid meters at present, but initially, government said the meters will be distributed free.

So, you can see that there is serious confusion in the system and if government is not transparent in handling the problems facing the sector, we may not be able to meet the 10.000mw capacity, as proposed”.

He continued: “Last time they talked about increase in electricity tariff; we warned that government must not increase tariff without constant supply of electricity. The union is not in support of increase in electricity tariff when there is epileptic power supply in the country.

We totally condemned such plan. Why should government mention increase in electricity tariff when the power sector is not functioning well? How can they increase tariff when there is no electricity? Why should

government force people to pay for what they are not using? We are against such move and we will never support it”.

Current power generation capacity/ 10,000mw in 2013:

According to the Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, who spoke through her representative, Mrs Grace Papka, Director of Human Resources in the ministry, during a media training in Abuja, the average generation capacity of the power sector as at Dec. 2012 was between 4517.6mw and 6442mw, and government has plans to achieve 10,000mw electricity generation by last quarter of 2013.

She said, “The work plans and goals of the Ministry of power in 2013 include to diversify the energy mix such as Renewable energy, scaling up of rural access to electricity and to stimulate investment in the sector. We intend to source ways of funding power transmission, develop projects outside the budgetary provisions and foster bilateral relations. The Ministry will also focus on the development of new policy initiatives in order to address post privatisation challenges. We are going to focus also on strengthening the operations, setting of targets for generation, transmission and distribution sub-sectors.”

Shortage of gas to power electricity plants: Experts are of the opinion that one of the major challenges facing the power sector in the country is shortage of gas to power the electricity plants. Often power generation dwindles due to shortage of gas. So, the ambitious target of 10,000MW predicted by minister of power according to experts view will only be realised if government put measures in place to improve on gas supply to power electricity plants in different parts of the country.

OUR ERROR

T

HE story published last Sunday, 14 April, 2013, with the headline, Banking recapitalisation is fundamental policy error, should have read Banking consolidation is fundamental policy error.

The error is regretted.

Editor

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

NIPP: The importance of being serious

BY EFE VICTOR

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W

HAT the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has achieved under the National Integration Power Projects (NIPP) in the last 12 months or thereabouts is a testament to what greatness this country can achieve in no time if only we could muster a collective seriousness in the nation-building process.

Despite intensive legal, political and funding hiccups leading to a two-year hiatus, the NDPHC has completed 15 power generation projects in Olorunsogo, Ogun State; Sapele, Delta State; Alaoji, Abia State; and Omotosho, Ondo State. Cumulatively, these power stations have increased the country ’s generation capacity by 1,687.5MW. Also, the NDPHC has added 274 kilometres (km) of transmission lines to the national carrying capacity through the completion of six transmission projects namely, the 330KV DC AjaokutaLokoja-Gwagwalada lines, 222Km; 330KV DC IhovborBenin Main-Oshogbo Line A, 17km; 330KV DC PapalantoIkejaWest-Ayede line, 16KM; 330KV DC Ganmo-JebbaOshogbo SC-Turn In/Turn Out Line, 12KM; 330KV DC Omotosho-Ikeja West Line, 5Km; and the two-kilometre, 132KV DC Ganmo-IlorinOshogbo Turn In/Turn Out line.

From zero contribution at inception in 2005, the NIPP injected 1500MW into the national grind last year.

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National Integration Power Projects Furthermore, the NDPHC has strengthened the transmission capacity of 12 substations, built three new ones from the scratch and rehabilitated two across the country, with a cumulative capacity of 2,370MVA. In the distribution end of the NIPP project, the NDPHC also has a haul of 30 completed zonal projects as follows: Abuja zone, 2; Benin zone,2; Eko zone, 9; Ibadan zone, 6; Ikeja zone 6; Kaduna zone, 3; and Jos/Yola zone, 2.

So, from zero contribution at inception in 2005, the NIPP injected 1500MW into the national grind last year.

And, as part of the NIPP, the NDPHC is overhauling the country’s transformer system by putting the huge 3000KVA50000KVA low voltage range of transformers out of service

and replacing them with hundreds of thousands complete, self-protective (CSP) high voltage transformers in the 25-50KVA range.

Attached to two or three homes at the maximum, the CSPs are being deployed nationwide to end the phenomenon of plunging whole neighbourhood into darkness whenever the sole transformer serving several streets pack up, among other problems associated with the central transformer system.

To be sure, the NDPHC recorded this feat under excruciating circumstances.

These include gas supply to the power stations, security and community issues, wayleave acquisition problems and attendant costs, port clearing coordination and challenges and contractor

performance problems.

Impressive as this 2012 scorecard of the firm is, the NDPHC, according to its Managing Director, Engr.

James Olotu, says it is the tip of an iceberg compared to what the firm plans to achieve this year.

Speaking at a recent quarterly review of the NIPP, Olotu laid out the NDPHC’s work-plan for this year, which includes completion of all Gas Turbine Projects in order to add a massive 4,264MW to the country’s generation capacity, completion of Transmission Projects to deliver 2,194Km of 330 KVA lines; 5,640MVA 330/ 132KV SS and 809Km 132KV lines, and 3.433MVA 132/ 33KV SS and finishing distribution projects of 3,540MVA substations plus

2,600Km of 11KV lines and 1,700Km of 33KV lines.

The NDPHC also plans to follow up the outstanding combined cycle for the 510MW Alaoji Power Station, complete gas projects and conclude all Gas Sales Aggregator Agreements (GSAA) and Gas Transmission Agreements (GTA) and receive and commence the implementation of the Transaction Adviser ’s recommendation this year.

Although the country has been ill-famed for the wrong reasons, not many know that the NIPP is the single largest power project by any country in the world right now. It is a massive undertaking that is replacing the country worn radial infrastructure with a loop system that would ensure multiple sources of power supplies to consumers across the country.

“The global best practice is that power transmission infrastructure should exceed the power generated and power distribution infrastructure should be able to carry more than the transmission bring on, in order to create redundancies, which would come in handy in the event of load loss. We are determined to achieve this global model under the NIPP,” Olotu said.

Quite a lofty goal to set for the NDPHC this year by its helmsman; may the day of uninterrupted power supply dawn soon in our country.

• Victor is resident in Asaba, Delta State.

Women in Business mentor young ladies

BY EMMA UNA

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ITH the lofty objective of mentoring young women to help them build career and achieve success in their chosen fields, an organisation composed of successful female professionals, known as Women in Business and Management (WINBIZ), in Calabar, took time to hold lectures to empower female students of the University of Calabar and University of Uyo. The lectures, held at the Conference Hall University of Calabar, had lecturers and discussants from various strata including medicine, politics, academia, business and agriculture. Led by Dr Julia Oku, the founder of the organisation, who tutored the young ladies on what she called personal branding, others, including Bisola Onajim, who spoke on health and youth risk, Aisha Ahmad - pathway to boosting personal finances, Toyosi Akerele, on relationship and actress, Ms. C M Y K

Kate Henshaw, who spoke on peer pressure, they all took time to address thousands of young women to boost their self worth and edge them towards success.

Kate Henshaw, who drew applause from the young ladies, tol d them that peer and societal pressure stem from other young people and the society in certain instances influencing young women to act and behave in a certain way that is different from the way they ordinarily would want to.

Peer pressure, she said, could be negative and positive, but “most often the pressure is negative demanding you to join in their parties, dress style, sexual escapades, and the like which may not be good for you”.

She advised them to locate where they have a passion for diligence, conscientious and determination to lead them to succeed in their chosen careers. “It is hard to say no and easy to say yes because you want to please people but you have to learn to hang out with people who can and would want to inspire you”.

The actress, who said she had been through various pressures including rejecting roles in films which required her to be nude, told them, “you don’t have to be fake but original because that would lead to failure and when you are fake and you fail, it will be difficult to get up again”.

Onne Customs receives new police boss

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HE new Commissioner of Police, Port Authority Police Command, CP, Sherifat Olajoku, has paid a courtesy visit to the Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Onne Command, Comptroller Mohammed Magaji, as part of the efforts to familiarise herself with the sister agencies in her area of jurisdiction.

Speaking while receiving the new police boss, Magaji said the visit would enhance the synergy between the police and Customs in the Command.

Comptroller Mohammed Magaji, (3rd from right), with CP Sherifat Olajoku, (3rd from left), with her entourage, during her courtesy visit to Onne Customs Command, Port Harcourt.

DESOPADEC commissioners tasked on honesty

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HE leadership of Urhoo Host Communities of Nigeria Oil and Gas,HOSTCOM, Delta Central, has called on the three commissioners representing Urhobo ethnic nationalities on the board of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, to always be honest and diligent in handling affairs of Urhobo HOSTCOM and the oil bearing communities.

Chairman of HOSTCOM, Delta Central, Chief Moses b

Irimisose, who gave the charge in Warri, also commended the three commissioners, Henry Ofa, Festus Utuama and Chief Ominimini Obiuvwebve for their respective contributions to HOSTCOM and commitment to the development of Urhobo oil bearing communities.

According to him, “the Urhobo commissioners must ensure that they are honest to the leadership of Urhobo HOSTCOM, and the oil bearing communities, adding that the only existing and constitutionally recognized HOSTCOM, Delta Central is led by Irimisose”

SUNDAY Vanguard , APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 35

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

Development Economics

WHERE IS NEXIM BANK? hurriedly mopped up shares of companies that were not operating at that time. Value of shares appreciated astronomically based on word of mouth (even from barely literate), not supported by tangible productivity. Even bankers that should know, undermined their academic and professional training, to create what they called ‘marginal loan’ to fuel their greed, and invested in shares of dead companies.

At the end, the stock market went burst and the consequence of our carelessness resulted in huge debts that led to all sorts of health problems including madness and even death. So many families are yet to recover from that crash in the stock market. It left us with so many reasons to be careful, we carry on claiming our economy is resilient, unique and accommodative of th e

extraordinary. We truly need to be patient and careful to see through the deceit in the ordinary happenings in the market, to avoid disaster.

Otherwise, things really happen in our local economy that has potentials to mislead.

One of such misleading indicators is the fact that globally, Nigeria is marked unsafe for investment due to (a) unimaginable level of corruption – including corporate corruption, (b) insecurity – with Boko Haram from the North, MEND from the South and armed robbers at the middle with nation-wide satellite offices, Kidnappers in Lagos, East and Mid-west and ‘gbomo-gbomo’ in the West

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IDE Akintunde’s article titled Corruption and Nigeria’s Investment Renaissance, published in FINANCIAL NIGERIA Vol. 5, Issue No. 57 of April 2013, made for an interesting reading, to say the least. Aptly, it did what I see as a scientific profiling of our economy ’s inhibitors and made a prediction of a successful future, if the critical stakeholders will make the singular sacrifice of investing discipline and self-restrain.

By the way, Mr. Akintunde is the Managing Editor of Financial Nigeria, a Development and Financial Journal.

The article in reference threw up so many incongruence in the workings of our local economy; in spite of the many instances of disconnect between how our local economy is run and deliberately impeded, it holds huge potentials for ROI – Return On (investors’) Investment, confounding global investment institutions and bankers. How else can one describe an economy where the banks post unimaginable profit while the manufacturing sector is locked-down? Last monthearly April (2013) Zenith Bank posted a Hundred Billion Naira (N100bn) profit, in an economy where only the telecom market is running albeit far below capacity. It is easy to ascribe such recorded growth in the banking sector to activities of a service-driven economy (non-manufacturing economy), but let’s be reminded that any economy with such “growth” indicators not supported by manufacturing, deliberate effort at human resource development and a corresponding low unemployment rate, will turn out a ruse.

But we give it to our economy; it has clearly defied all known principles and theories, while successfully delivering equally illogical growth. But let us not be deceived, it is all incongruent, not likely to subsist and requires a deliberate and concerted effort towards repair and redirection or it will lead us nowhere. It reminds me of the period of rush for stock market investment, when even those who called themselves investment bankers were blinded by “ visible” mega profits threw professionalism over-board (couldn’t advise neither their clients nor themselves) and blindly scrambled for what they saw as investment opportunities.

Their rationale was that our economy does not run according to any known investment theory or principle, and so should not be analyzed as such. Investors

Scheme · ECOWAS Trade Support facility · Nigerian Creative & Entertainment Industry Stimulation Loan Scheme

are Ecobank, Citi, StanChart, Standard Bank (Stanbic), and they all tell success stories owing to their presence in this market.

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he Chinese are in a hurry to take position in this land of promise, in whatever way the opportunity presents itself. MTN, Shoprite, MultiChoice, would rather remain here instead of their home-South Africa, considering the enormous opportunities here. All of these tales of success will confound good reasoning among managers and planners.

Hence one will not ordinarily blame them when they make excuses for the illogical postulations and engagement.

Yet, we at MC&A DIGEST strongly believe there is a need for caution, deliberate and constructive engagement of our institutions designed to stimulate sustainable growth.

This week, we like to look at

If manufacturing and agriculture are two of the bank’s focus, how come these two sectors of our economy are still in-operative? Can the managers of NEXIM proudly profile their contributions to the nation’s economic growth in its about 22 years of being?

(my Igbo brothers don’t even go far – some daring ones just pick members of their families for money rituals; scary tales of insecurity all over. In the face off all these negatives, however, Nigeria remains the investment destination for global investors. In spite of the short time permitted by the Sanusi bank recapitalization policy investors, including foreign banks hurriedly pushed in funds to enable them take position in the market widely described in negative terms. Among those that trust this economy so well

Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) was established by Act 38 of 1991, as an Export Credit Agency; a macro-economic development initiative designed to carefully exploit opportunities present in international trade, advantageous to Nigeria, her people and economy . It is charged to support onshore and offshore activities that result in the export of Nigerian goods and services, by providing finance, riskbearing facilities as well as trade and market information and export advisory services to the Nigerian export community, among other functions.

The Bank is 100% Government owned and has an authorized share capital of N50,000,000,000 (Fifty Billion Naira), equally subscribed to equally by the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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our Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) in the light of the incongruence in our economic system and the seemingly inexplicable differences between the manifest implausible associated with our economy and the successes recorded by corporate bodies operating in this economy. Our concern is the essence of this structured economic growth decision known as NEXIM and the true value it brings to bear on the economy and people of Nigeria.

he bank’s main focus is on the developmental role (complementing commercial banks) through job creation and supporting the exports of Nigerian goods and services. Statutorily, NEXIM Bank focuses on virgin segments and the nonoil exports in different segments of the market/ economy. Its role is to help structure the appropriate financing for such markets either singly or with other commercial banks or financial institutions through syndication.

In all, the bank showcases ten facilities, namely: · Rediscounting & financing · Stocking · Direct lending · Local input · Foreign inputs · Export credit guarantee · Export credit insurance · ECOWAS Interstate Inter-state Road Transit

On the whole, NEXIM postures as a dependable frontier for exploiting ample opportunities present in international trade, for Nigerians. It has scheduled a maximum application processing period of 4-12 weeks, with special focus on manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and the service sector. Of particular interest to us are the Stocking, Direct Lending and Local Input facilities. These listed facilities hold growth potentials with immediate growth stimulating multiplier effect on the other facilities.

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owever, there are questions in need for answers in relation to the effectiveness and efficiency of NEXIM Bank as an economic growth driver. For one, if manufacturing and agriculture are two of the bank’s focus, how come these two sectors of

our economy are still inoperative? Can the managers of NEXIM proudly profile their contributions to the nation’s economic growth in its about 22 years of being?

Can it truly say those in critical need of its assistance have access to its facilities?

Where are the evidences of its impact, at least in the critical areas of our economy? How much does the critical mass of its target market know of its being, operations and method of engagement? Is NEXIM’s operational system truly different from those of the commercial banks (with all their unfriendly posture towards prospective investors?

I know of a particular prospect who has done so much to be productive in the agricultural sector, has invested so much, but has waited for so long for NEXIM Bank’s assistance to roll out (far beyond the time limit the bank promises for processing applications), he is getting frustrated! Can NEXIM management team truly claim to be operating objectively, treating applications on their merits?

We will, at this point, leave the public to their deductions, but we must state this: there is a need to re-direct our economy from the dwindling fortunes of the oil industry. We must invest in manufacturing and agriculture, to be survive as a nation, and NEXIM must stand up to be counted in this effort. It must look inward to re-jig, as it is not entirely well positioned for its role presently. We shall leave the matter there, at this point.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 37

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

D

r. Joseph Wayas was the Second Republic Senate President. He was the first Senate President to return unspent fund to the treasury. In this interview, the former number three citizen laments that he lives on charity.

Excerpts:

Dr. Joseph Wayas

MISERABLE LIFE OF SECOND REPUBLIC SENATE PRESIDENT

I live on charity — Dr. Joseph Wayas, *Says we initiated zoning to stabilise polity

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How have you fared after serving as number three citizen?

I’m very proud to be a Nigerian. It is God’s wish that I will be a Nigerian; we are a nation that is still struggling to put things in perspective and we should not look at me alone but also other Nigerians in general. A lot of things need to be put right, they include the faring you just referred to. Obviously, after serving the nation and you get to my age and you are referred to as retired, you should be able to benefit from your service to your fatherland. But it is not the case, though it is not right to conclude that everything is not done rightly.

So, as we march forward, we will continue to amend and do things which we should have done. Don’t forget we are only about 52 years old as a nation. When you compare that with countries that are a hundred years old, it can’t be the same; that is my hope.

As an elder statesman and one time number three citizen, how has the country cared for you and some others that have served this country?

Well, I can only speak for myself, but, like I said, it’s a long walk and I believe we will gradually get there.

But to expect that everything will be very perfect and problems solved completely within this time frame, I think it is not fair to blame the country or blame anybody. I believe Africa will get there.

How often do your benefits come?

I will tell you the true position provided you don’t exploit it and the truth is that things have been extremely very hard. I am a strong believer in God and He will amend the situation; fare, that is the appropriate word to use, especially when you read in the papers about people talking about other peoples retirement, you will start asking yourself, what is wrong with my case?

What you expect to hear from me is that, no, it doesn’t matter, it is okay, but the truth is that it is not okay, it is very hard. So, I expect or hope that this area should be looked into and all corrections made. To me, if people like us live in a very terrible condition, it is not good for Nigeria; people in other countries will see it as an invitation for corruption for officials while still in service, but any money or wealth you acquire wrongly will disappear wrongly.

As an elder statesman, how do you advise government to take care of those who dedicated themselves to the service of the nation?

Well, as you are aware, there are provisions for retirement benefits, but I think every government should strive hard to see that they enforce it and, by so doing, reduce the suffering of those elder men that have given the best of their time to this nation. I strongly recommend to government to take it as a serious issue.

Do you think the country

if you tell me that people like you can squeeze out something out of your monthly income, put in an envelope and say,’ sir, take, use and buy food’, I cannot pretend and say ‘no, don’t bother’ because that gesture will go a long way to help me. You saw a drink here, I didn’t buy it, somebody gave me

appreciates its past leaders leaders?

Yes, the country does appreciate, but appreciation should not end in the sharing or dishing out of money. Respect for the elders, treating them with the respect they deserve is how it should be; after all that is our culture for the elders, we take care of our elders. So, I appeal to Nigerians, especially those in authority, to see to it that there are laws or rules that will ensure that those past leaders are properly treated and are living in good conditions; this will encourage others who are serving to serve well.

How often do you receive your pension?

I have never received as and when due.

What is the problem problem?

It is a question I will ask you to try to help me ask, I don’t know why. I am not there anymore.

Is there any provision in the constitution to take care of people that have served this

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country?

Well don’t forget that we have had several military intervention and I keep saying consistently this issue is not an issue to raise because I want to be a beneficiary. Yes, I am suffering; there was a time a governor asked me a question,’ how have you been able to resolve this?’ and I gave an honest answer,’ by the goodwill of people’. That is the honest truth. I don’t want to drag the young man sitting here with us, but if you tell me that people like you can squeeze out something out of your monthly income, put in an envelope and say,’ sir, take, use and buy food’, I cannot pretend and say ‘no, don’t bother’ because that gesture will go a long way to help me. You saw a drink here, I didn’t buy it, somebody gave me ther words In other words, you are suffering and live on charity.

If you don’t get whatever you are supposed to get, you are suffering. I gave you the example

of a young man, I don’t know his income, he is a public servant, but he always squeezes two or three thousand in an envelope and says ‘i know you don’t have, take this and manage’, and I accept it; I have to because if not, I am pretending and lying when I know that my pocket is empty. There are quite a good number of Nigerians who are kind hearted.

How do you think corruption in the country should be tackled tackled?

My prescription may not be popular, but I think we shouldn’t pay lip service to it because all we do now is talk, talk and talk and nothing is happening. Honestly speaking, if any public servant suffers by being made to lose his loot, that will be a deterrent, some kind of signal that there is no good tiding when you get corrupt, and that whatever you get corruptly will be taken away from you.

How do you compare the level of corruption when you were in office and now?

The word corruption was not commonly used in our time as it is used today.At that time, it was used in extreme cases; today, everywhere, everybody talks about corruption, some even make suggestions on how it should be tackled. My honest opinion is that government shouldn’t pay lip service to it; i am not accusing any government, neither the past nor the present, but we shouldn’t pay lip service to corruption because the moment you pay lip service, it encourages people.

Insecurity seems to be threatening the unity of this country country.. What is the best way

to tackle it?

Security is a serious issue, a government responsibility. If you consider the enormity of the insecurity in the land, you wonder whether we have government. I remember when Shagari (former president) dealt with the Maitasine sect in those days, to the extent that some of us even went to the bush hunting them, they were running.

What is your position on the proposed amnesty for Boko Haram?

This question is better put across to people in government who are proposing it because that issue should not even arise. It is a pity that some people will tell you that amnesty was granted to Niger Delta but I will like to know if the activities of the Niger Delta militants went outside Niger Delta. If the Islamists can come out and say, ‘yes we are Boko Haram’, then you will know the people to talk with. But these are faceless people and you are going to give amnesty to faceless people, what is the use?

Again, without criticizing anybody, I think there is a better way to deal with this kind of problem than speculating.

So what is the best way to handle this insurgency?

There is no way that you will discuss that it will not be an issue of criticism of an incumbent and I don’t think if i am going to advise on how government should tackle the issue should be in the press. It is a very critical issue that requires to be handled with care.

Don’t you think this will affect the unity of the country?

We have had several different threats that would have affected the unity of Nigeria, but for God to create Nigeria and put us together, He is in control. We had a civil war, but today Nigeria is moving on stronger and stronger and many people will tell you why Boko Haram cannot threaten the unity of Nigeria. This nation was created by God, put together as one people, so we are and so we will be.

Going by what is happening now; do you think that after 2015 elections, Nigeria will still remain as a nation?

Elections have never broken up Nigeria, there may be noise, there will be all kinds of stuff, in the end, we remain one. Yes we have made a lot of improvement in the last elections and I believe that we will continue to make improvement 2015. I believe that 2015 elections are going to be an improvement.

What is your position on the issue of zoning. Does it pose any threat if someone from the South-South or the incumbent president contests in 2015?

Your question consists of two separate questions; for your information, you are talking to the person who suggested and introduced zoning in Nigeria and, since we started zoning, it has helped and has given answers to many other contentious issues. I proposed zoning with rotation and indeed it helped, but if somebody from say SouthSouth has a slot the next time, somebody else from the North follows, somebody from the West or East will have their times and every Nigerian will benefit.

The kind of zoning you initiated, is it what is been practised now or has it been bastardized bastardized?

There is nothing that is permanent except a written constitution which is also subject to amendment, so if you ask me if there is a document that is final, it is the one written by God.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY

Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

By HENRY UMORU

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IKE a leper, Olusegun Obasanjo may not be in a position to install a new president come 2015, but he appears to still have the wherewithal to inflict maximum disruption.

But for the self- acclaimed largest party in Africa, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, it could be well described as history being made, when two very influential figures in the party decided to sheathe their swords and bury the hatchet on Monday, April 15 The gates of the Hilltop Mansion home, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, of former President of Nigeria, who also served as the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party, were opened that day. It was unusual in all ramifications as members of the BoT visited Obasanjo.

But the major personas were Obasanjo and Anthony Anenih, the incumbent Chairman of the BoT. For six solid years, these major players never met face to face to laugh or hold hands, but, on that Monday, they laughed, held hands. The meeting of these two Nigerians and leaders of the party became imperative against the backdrop of the need to end the crises bedeviling the PDP especially ahead of the 2015 presidential election and the proposed merger of the opposition political parties designed primarily to wrest power from the party.

Anenih was accompanied to the Abeokuta meeting by the BoT Secretary, Senator Walid Jubrin; Governors Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State; Senator Ahmed Markafi; Senator Abdullahi Adamu; and Professor Jerry Gana. Also at the residence of Obasanjo were Engr. Segun Oni; Chief Bode Mustapha; former Ogun State PDP Chairman, Joju Fadairo; Senator Dipo Odunjirin; Mrs Aduke Maina, among others.

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n fact, Obasanjo was having a meeting of his own people before the BoT members arrived.

An insider in the Obasanjo household told Sunday Vanguard, “Baba was having a meeting with leaders of the PDP in the state before the Anenih team arrived, “Their own meeting was with a view to strengthening the party in the state – mind you, there are factions of PDP in Ogun State and Baba has been deploying his experience and goodwill just so the party would do well at the polls in 2015.

“That was the meting that was going on in the mansion before the Anenih team arrived”.

Once the BoT team arrived, Sunday Vanguard learnt that Obasanhjo excused the Ogun PDP leaders from the main living room and went outside to welcome the team. The Ogun leaders joined in.

It was gathered that, at the meeting of these two PDP chieftainsObasanjo and Anenih- the main issue discussed was the state of insecurity in the country. Although there were other issues like the 2015 presidential election, crises in the party, the PDP governors and the Tukur- led National Working Committee, NWC, the country, among others, begging for negotiations and discussions, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the main issue was insecurity.

•Olusegun Obasanjo

RECONCILIATION IN PDP

The fear of a rampa ging Obasanjo •The Abeokuta meeting of Anenih and OBJ

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ven the vexed issue of the ‘Obasanjo boys’ in the party’s NWC who had been treated like gas bags recently was not mentioned.

After the closed door meeting, Anenih, who described Obasanjo as the leader of PDP in Nigeria, said, ‘’PDP is the party to beat; when the time comes, I assure you, we will do what we know how to do best. ‘’I am here to see my leader (Obasanjo), I am here to pay my respect and, indeed, I am here with my colleagues, some members of the BoT of our party to discuss some

issues that affect the corporate existence of this country, some issues about the insecurity in the country and some issues about the party itself. ‘’As you can see, we are all smiling. Can’t you see me smiling?.

So, we are quite happy about the outcome. For now, it is not for public consumption. Let me tell you, almost all of us here are members of the PDP in Ogun State; so, you cannot say that PDP is dead in Ogun State.

The leader of PDP in Nigeria is here and that is the former president.”

Anenih, ‘’Mr Fix it”, as he is fondly called, is setting a template for the party with his trouble shooting tour of the states where he is begging the governors to have faith and remain in the party; telling the governors and other stakeholders, who are aggrieved one way or the other, to put yesterday behind them and move the party forward. His tour with other members of the BoT is

complementing the reconciliatory drive of party Chairman Bamanga Tukur. Anenih’s meeting with Obasanjo, to a very large extent, showed a high sense of maturity that must be emulated by all, an indication that there is time to fight and time to reconcile; time to disagree and time to agree; time to flex political muscles and time to Continues on page 39

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 39

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He was said to have been collaborating with anti-PDP forces, especially from the North, to frustrate the ruling party from returning to power in 2015.

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but the clause was later expunged in 2009.

Though it is now history, the election which brought in the former president as BoT Chairman then became the first time in the life of the body that meeting would be held in the morning as against in the dead of the night.

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•Anthony Anenih

The Abeokuta meeting of Anenih and OBJ Continued from page 38 relax them.

While Tukur is using a town hall-meeting style, Anenih is taking it to the door steps and locale of the dramatis personae in the PDP drama.

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aving met with the governors and Obasanjo, Anenih and his men should not leave behind those that contested with Tukur last year before they were coerced to step down, just as he will also meet with other aspirants to the BoT position like former Vice President Alex

Ekwueme; former National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali; former Deputy National Chairman, Alhaji Shaiubu Oyedokun; Chief Don Etiebet; Chief Emmanuel Iwuayanwu, among others as another former contestant, former Senate President Ken Nnamani, accompanies him on some of the trips. It is hoped that with these meetings by the Uromi- born politician, and especially with Obasanjo, peace will return to the troubled PDP; it is also hoped that a new trend

will be in the PDP while all aggrieved members will be ready to bury the hatchet and embrace peace in the interest of the party.

It will be recalled that Obasanjo took over from Anenih as BoT Chairman in June, 2007 at the Kano Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, after amending the party’s constitution with the support of the former Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, and the then National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe that a former president still in the party can hold that position,

nenih, who was conspicuously absent at the meeting, as gathered, became angry because he had fixed the meeting for 8pm as Chairman and he was still in Benin-City, with plans to arrive Abuja before the scheduled time for the meeting, but the time changed without his consent, just as he was said to have kicked against the choice of the time and venue of the meeting for 10am at Hilton Hotel.

The meeting lasted for two and a half hours behind closed door.

Since then, the relationship between Anenih and Obasanjo became sour and it was a case of one dodging the other at events; infact, they never saw face to face and the battle of the two senior party leaders affected the PDP. Obasanjo later resigned as the BoT Chairman on April 3, 2012, explaining that the action would give him time ‘’to give some attention to mentoring across the board nationally and internationally in those areas that I have acquired some experience, expertise and in which I have something to share”.He went on,” In 2011, I was in the vanguard of working for the PDP to produce a president for Nigeria. God answered our prayer.”

Following his resignation,

it became clear that intrigues will come to play for his replacement. Even as Anenih was interested in the position, Obasanjo was also keen in influencing the choice of his successor as he was said to have backed Ahmadu Ali or Shauibu Oyedokun. At the end of the day,however, President Goodluck Jonathan had his way and Anenih bounced back to the position he was removed from in a coup in 2007.

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he Monday meeting of Obasanjo and Anenih, at least to pacify the former, was also very important and timely for the PDP because the former president’s political psyche and prowess, especially in his native Ogun State, had been destabilised with developments that unfolded before now. His candidate, Tunji Olurin, for the Ogun State governorship election in 2011 did not have his way when the crisis between him and the former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, became peaked. He also suffered in the hands of the PDP when his men in the present leadership like the National Vice Chairman, South West, Segun Oni; the National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the National Auditor, Bode Mustapha; were removed and he was also not carried along when the Tukur -led National Working Committee, NWC, set up the Ishola Filani- led Caretaker Committee for South West PDP. Obasanjo, it will also be recalled, wanted the Speaker, House of Representatives to come from the South West, but, at the end of the day, Aminu Tambuwal threw away the party’s zoning arrangement. Tambuwal and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, achieving the goal they set for themselves, stormed the Wadata Plaza, the party’s secretariat, apologised to the leadership and it was a case of ‘go and sin no more’.

Obasanjo lost out in the game of producing the Speaker.

Recent reports say Obasanjo had acted in a way as to extract his pound of flesh from the PDP leadership. He was said to have been collaborating with anti-PDP forces, especially from the North, to frustrate the ruling party from returning to power in 2015.

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The Boko Haram amnesty conundrum BYCHRIS OKOTIE VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Islamist group as a loose canon that threatens everything

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S you read this, President Goodluck Jonathan may be on the verge of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram insurgent group at the behest of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), who met with him during the week to discuss this sensitive issue.

Advocates of amnesty for Boko Haram are pointing to the Niger Delta precedent to justify this call which is clearly symptomatic of the frustration of the governing elite in the face of a stalemated war that has no borders, or a specific target or a discernible, civilised objective. Other than the abolition of western education and the imposition of Sharia in the North, the group isn’t saying anything worthwhile; even these demands are as idiotic as they are unreasonable. How do we begin to turn back the clock of civilisation because of a few misguided armed marabouts?

Amnesty, meanwhile, seems an easy way out of a crisis that appears to be turning gradually into a quagmire like is the case of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq where living with terror has become a way of life. It was once a virtual impossibility to imagine that Nigerians would be living with terror, but that, for us, is now a terrifying reality. And the ruling elite have themselves to

VIEWPOINT

BY OKHAREDIA IHIMEKPEN

blame for this embarrassing war.

There’s no shred of evidence that the Jonathan administration, despite its lackadaisical approach, is not doing its best in the fight against terrorism and other violent crimes. The escalation of violence of all shadesarmed robberies, kidnappings, ritual killings, domestic violence, face book-related attacks and terrorism, is a clear indication that its best efforts are not enough. It is time to change gear.

How this insidious evil became a murderous terror machine, that it is today under our eyes, is a question the nation’s ruling elite is unable to answer; the option of a general amnesty may be a vivid testimony of the growing exasperation of the elite with an evil it birthed but could no longer control.

Since the Boko Haram insurgent group declared war against the country under the Yar’Adua administration, government has responded, using conventional methods to contain an unusual enemy which operates by the unconventional methods of urban guerrilla warfare. In trying to nip it in the bud at the initial stage of the crisis, he police allegedly killed the acknowledged leader of the group, Yusuf Foi, an excommissioner in Borno State.

That’s one of the main grudges of Boko Haram and it is believed that the summary execution of Foi actually removed the lid from the tinder box.

Since the elimination of the leader, the group has splintered into different dangerous factions under faceless leaders with varying and conflicting agendas, but all united under the banner of political Sharia. Today, having

developed into a well – funded international terror organisation, we have no idea who controls which of its various tentacles, but one thing is certain: Boko Haram has managed to hook up with Al- Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, with dire implications for the security of the subSahara, apart from Nigeria.

With Boko Haram so fragmented and dangerously polarised along ideological, theological and political divides, including some criminal elements here and there, it has become a loose cannon that threatens everybody but themselves. Running an unprecedented violent campaign first, against internal rivals, then the police for an alleged injustice and now against everyone in sight, Boko Haram is the biggest agent of destabilization in the country apart from corruption in high places.

Now, the argument for Boko Haram’s amnesty cannot stand on the logic of the one granted to the Niger Delta militants because both armed groups may have levied war against their country, Nigeria, their individual motives and corporate objectives are as different as their tactics and targets. Boko Haram turned their guns against innocent worshippers mostly in churches, and a few mosques, bombed police and military targets and caused massive blood bathe through their reckless attacks on public buildings, residential districts, public and major business outlets, and industrial installations.

Generally, Boko Haram is a vampire on the loose whose objective is not just to Islamise Nigeria, but to rid it totally of west-

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groups to levy war against their own people to attain some mindless, esoteric objectives.

The Niger Delta amnesty cannot possibly be a template any more than the pardon of Abacha’s coupist justifies Alameyesiegha’s clemency. Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants are two of a kind but unique in their different colourations. We knew and still know who the Delta militants are; but we don’t know the faces behind Boko Haram. That is why the government is unable to negotiate with them.

Nobody can justify an amnesty for a group that is not committed to dialogue. If Boko Haram’s body language speaks of peace, the Federal Government, tired of battle with the recalcitrant Islamic militants, would have no choice than to bring amnesty as a bait on the table.

Amnesty is justifiable under an atmosphere of jaw-jaw or during a carrot and stick situation, not when one side to the conflict is invisible, implacable and unwilling to accept anything but its own terms, which in the case of Boko Haram, cannot stand on any civilised logic.

Nevertheless if the northern leaders strongly believe amnesty is a way out at this stage, it is worth giving a try. However, beyond clamouring for amnesty for the terror group, the NEF must give some form of assurance that it would actively participate in enforcing the peace we all expect.

The wild boys of Niger Delta never threatened those outside the realm of their agitation. They didn’t bring religious or tribal sentiments into their campaign or align with foreign terror

*Okotie is a pastor and politician okotie@revchrisokotie.com.

Follow on t w i t t e r @ Re v c h r i s o k o t i e , 08078421451 (sms only)

ern influence. The group is now present in every part of Nigeria, getting set for a bloody campaign down South. Talk about a bull in a China shop!

In contrast, the Niger Delta militants are environmental activists and armed campaigners for economic justice for the alienated people of the Delta region, whose lands have been destroyed by decades of oil exploration without any visible positive impact on the people’s welfare.

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VIEWPOINT

Advocates of amnesty for Boko Haram are pointing to the Niger Delta precedent to justify this call which is clearly symptomatic of the frustration of the governing elite in the face of a stalemated war that has no borders

Still on federal roads in Edo

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

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OT too long ago, the Federal Ministry of Works, in some national dailies, came up with an advert on why Edo State has become a centrepiece in the Jonathan administration road transformation agenda. The reason it advanced was that, apart from the Jonathan’s transformation drive to link the six geo-political zones of the country with dual carriage ways, Edo State, being a gateway that connects the West, East and the North, serves as a road network receptacle coupled with the energetic zeal of the Honorable Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolenmeme.

This was followed by inflammatory report in two national newspapers that a staff of the construction company alleged that the contract of Akpakpava – Uselu – Ofosu road, including the Five-Junction, was not of the Federal Minis-

try of Works and that the statement by the Works Minister, that the road network was part of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government was false. It was apparent that the piece was sponsored. True to type, the management of the construction company, RCC, came out with a release that the said contract is by the Federal Ministry of Works, though Edo State government has also awarded to them the contract for the construction of walk ways and erosion control at Five Junction.

Then Edo State Commissioner for Works, Osarodion Ogie, came out with an advertorial, condemning the contractor ’s apology to the minister and also restated that the FiveJunction was being constructed by the state government.

One is forced to imagine if his piece was not meant to hoodwink the Edo electorate to justify the state huge indebtedness to the World Bank.

Edo people know who is executing what and what project in the state, so the role of a rabble rouser does not exist

especially now that Governor Adams Oshiomhole is not going for any state election anymore .

On September 6, 2011, exactly 100 days into the administration of President Good-

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Rehabilitation of roads as politics

Today, over one year after, Nigerians across the country have confirmed that the Federal Ministry of Works has slowly but gradually transformed the country’s road network

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luck, Arc. Mike Onolememen, as Works Minister, listed a number of interventions that his ministry was making on

Nigeria roads to make them motorable, safer and pleasurable to drive on. Today, over one year after, Nigerians across the country have confirmed that the Federal Ministry of Works has slowly but gradually transformed the country’s road network. This was done to provide the impetus to drive the minister ’s vision for road development.

The restructuring led to the establishment of six zonal directorates of highways and the constitution of Independent Zonal Monitoring Teams within the geopolitical zones.

On the over 12 on-going projects inherited in Edo State, the minister and his ministry have pursued top priority ones which include: Ovia River Bridge concrete rails, FiveJunction, – Benin – Ore – Shagamu, Benin – Okene – Lokoja Dualisation, Akoko – Aiyegunle Road, 2 bridges Along Ekperi Road, Uzea – Ohe – Afuda – Usugbenu Road, Ivue – Water works Road, Auchi – Jattu Washout, Ayogwiri – Fungar Road, Utor

Bridge & Approach Road, 2nd Niger Bridge,. Benin - Asaba – Onitsha – Owerri Onitsha – Enugu Roads.

We live in fortunes and misfortunes, foibles and the fables of others. From these fortunes and misfortunes the best in us strives to distill insights and perspectives that enrich the society and help shape the standards of our senses and sensibilities.

Ogie may be contented to retain these fortunes and misfortunes, endlessly regurgitating and using them as crutches to stand on. In this way, he creates the impression that he cannot stand on his own facts, that he has no insights of his own, that he cannot argue or expound from political curiosity and that his views and opinions have relevance only to the extent that they flow from, or stand opposed to the views and opinions of those he is paid to whitewash or serve.

This is sad enough.

*Ihimekpen is a public affairs commentator based in Benin-City.

PAGE 46 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

The Uncle Wole Awolowo I knew

BY FOLU OLAMITI TRIBUTE IN BRIEF Chief Oluwole Awolowo as a boss and publisher

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called him ‘My Publish er.’ But he was more. He was a brother, an inspiration, and a boss. A kindred spirit of the pen. Even years after my tour of duty in Nigerian Tribune, he never ceased telling me that ‘Folu, this is your paper o. Anything you can do to help its continuous growth is welcomed, any day , any time.’

That was Uncle Wole Awolowo for you. You can then imagine my shock and sorrow when the terrible news began to filter in that hot and windy Wednesday of March 27, 2013.

Uncle Wole is dead! The news swept in like a blaze ignited by a rampaging tornado.

It hit the heart with the heart and soul with the force of thunderbolt.

A call from a younger professional colleague in the Premium Times Online that I fondly call Idris made the sad news a vivid reality. “Good evening sir,” he said as I stepped out of a meeting that hectic day. “There is a news item on twitter that Chief Oluwole Awolowo has passed on.”

I asked him what he had just said. He repeated it. I told him I would call him back. I never did. I didn’t remember to return the call because almost immediately he dropped, another call came in. It was from the newsroom of the Nigerian Tribune, confirming my worst fear.

I was already in transit for a week retreat and could not call off the trip to dash to Ikenne.

Like millions of Nigerians who love the Awolowo family, I was devastated. But I was somewhat comforted, later, by the outpouring of emotions and sympathies expressed by Nigerians, at home and in the diaspora, over the passing of Uncle Wole. Condolence messages and sympathy visits to Mama H.I.D. Awolowo

Late Chief Oluwole Awolowo

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TRIB UTE TRIBUTE

have been pouring like a deluge on the painful loss of her only surviving son.

I joined the Nigerian Tribune in 1972 as a cub reporter under the tutelage of Alhaji Lateef Jakande who later groomed me into a crack reporter.

Papa Awolowo noticed my zeal for hard work and I found myself as one of his favourites that he picked me to cover his electioneering campaigns in 1979 and 1983 respectively.

During this period, I did not see much of Uncle Wole. He was a little distanced from the flurry of activities of Papa Awo. Though he had his own political philosophy, Uncle Wole was into various economic businesses.

Uncle Wole was a free-minded person whose friends and associates cut across political lines. He took a shot at an elective office at Apapa Constituency during Papa Awo’s second bid for the Presidency.

Papa Awo at first did not to bother himself with Uncle Wole’s political ambition but had to change his mind knowing that the political fortune of his son or otherwise would impact on him too. Papa Awo went full blast to campaign for Uncle Wole and he won convincingly. Uncle Wole needed the press and that assignment fell on me and gave me the opportunity to have my first close contact with him. He looked simple but under this seeming simplicity hid a strong and principled character.

Papa Awo passed on to glory in 1987 and the mantle of overseeing Nigerian Tribune titles fell on him. Uncle Wole knew how close I was to Papa and Mama Awo and accorded me that respect to freely ply my trade in the establishment.

I edited the Sunday Tribune for six years, Nigerian Tribune for six years, became Executive Director Operations for three years overseeing the production, advertisement, circulation and transport sections. Later, I was moved to head the editorial department as Executive Director Publications.

Uncle Wole was a free-minded person whose friends and associates cut across political lines. He took a shot at an elective office at Apapa Constituency during Papa Awo’s second bid for the Presidency

In all these assignments, Uncle Wole gave me a free hand. He was also passionate with the survival of the paper to the extent of having sleepless nights. Not only that, we travelled together to almost all the key cities of the world attending one seminar or the other in search of making the Nigerian Tribune titles the flagship of newspapers in Nigeria.

In early 1990s, we were on a trip to South Africa to attend the International Press Institute (IPI) annual conference and there was this chance meeting with the then President-elect, Dr. Nelson Mandela at NICON Hotel in Cape Town. Uncle Wole was introduced to him at the lounge and Mandela’s eyes brightened and he warmly shook the hands of Uncle Wole, saying “Your father was a great poli-

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tician”. I caught that moment with my camera and celebrated it on the pages of Nigerian Tribune newspapers.

Those of us who were close to him knew his strong points and his weaknesses. He was humble to a fault. He hated hurting people and naturally gave to people freely. He always had ready-made envelopes for those in need.

However, some people who milled around him explored this gentle nature to feed him with lies, half-truths and unfounded rumours about those Uncle Wole had soft spots for.

An incident happened when I was the Executive Director Of Operations. He gave me an assignment to travel to London twice and Germany once to meet credible suppliers of printing machine. On my return, I had a meeting with our senior accountants on how we

could save enough without going to the banks for loan. I was told that our accounts were in the red. I did not believe them and made some comments. But to my surprise, words got to publisher and my comments were twisted to mean I was prying into what should not be my concern.

That day, I was in Lagos and I had to call on Uncle Wole on my way to Ibadan.

Uncle Wole was not a pretender. As soon as he saw me, he flared up and said, “Folu, what is your concern about finance in The Tribune?”. I took my time to explain that he gave me an assignment to source for funds for a new machine and I thought we should look inward first. If we were making daily sales, it won’t be too much to start saving five million naira every month, and in six months we would have something substantial as deposit. When he heard my explanation, his anger evaporated. He smiled and said he had been misinformed and he was back to his normal self almost immediately.

Another rumour was about me having a house in London.

It took Uncle Wole to travel with me to London on an official assignment to know the truth that I was, indeed, staying with my bosom friend, Professor Okanlawon Onagbesan. He also confirmed that I had no other place I spent my yearly holiday in London than with this my friend.

Ten years after I left The Tribune, my love for him never waned. I am in close touch with some of his children who see me as their uncle too.

Uncle Wole died in active service. On that day, September 30 2006, he was on his daily routine to The Tribune office in Ibadan. He shed his blood for a legacy left behind by his father, the sage, Pa Awo, and died during the passion week for our Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood to redeem us.

So, let us see the death of Uncle Wole as a price by a sacrificial lamb that shed his blood so that The Tribune will continue to go from strength to strength.

Lagos Dep. Gov, Mrs Fashola, Oritsejafor, others celebrate with Pastor Olutola at 80

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HE 80th birthday anni versary of Pastor (Dr)

Gabriel Olutola, JP, National President & Chairman LAWNA of The Apostolic Church, Nigeria, was celebrated in style, with grandeur and in total sobriety and focus.

The weeklong events were impeccably organised in Okebode, Ilesa, Osun State and in Lagos. The activities included the dedication/handing over of a mission house built by celebrant to The Apostolic Church Assembly in Okebode, his birth place. The widows in the

town were not left out of Baba’s generosity as they received gifts and food items.

In Lagos, there was a visit to the Little Angels Orphanage managed by Mrs George where he again presented cash and material donations. On Wednesday, 3 April, Pastor Olutola carried his evangelism and philanthropy to Ikoyi Prisons where Baba met the spiritual and material needs of the inmates. About 20 inmates gave their lives to Christ to form the nucleus of The Apostolic Church Assembly.

On the D-day, 4 April, after a short morning service at home, guests witnessed the launching of the biography of Pastor Olutola and the Olanrewaju-Oladele Olutola Foundation. The biography titled, Odysee, written by Mrs Nike Adesanya, attracted many dignitaries including the Director General of the Bible Society of Nigeria, Pastor Odutola, while Professor Falaye of the University of Ibadan reviewed the book which is a must to read for inspiration and a testimony of God’s faithfulness.

The celebration was also

marked by a special lecture delivered by the erudite professor of law and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State. The theme was, ‘Bridging the Gap’ Between our Spiritual Life and Secular Behaviour: A Tool for Good Governance’. The lecture was presided over by the Vice Chancellor of LAWNA The Apostolic Church, Samuel Adegboyega University, Professor Ben Aigbohan.

The events were rounded up with a thanks giving service

and reception on Saturday at the TAC National Temple, Ketu Olorunda. The service was a celebration of praise and worship punctuated by testimonies of God’s grace and faithfulness. The sermon was delivered by Bishop of Lagos Anglican Communion, Bishop Ademowo, with the wife of the Lagos State governor, Deaconess Fashola; Deputy Governor, Mrs Orelope, and Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria also at the occasion. .

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 47

Kogi: Is INEC superior to the Killing Chudi Nwike Supreme Court?

BY PHRANK SHAIBU VIEWPOINT IN The imperative of resolving the legal impasse over Kogi guber ABOUT two days after the Supreme Court judgement on tenure elongation which sacked five state governors including that of Kogi State where elections had been conducted about eight weeks before the apex court ruling, a reporter contacted the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, on the next step the electoral body would take. The press secretary remarked: “INEC lawyers are studying the verdict and will advise the public on the full ramifications of the judgement”.

He further stated: “INEC

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Jega, in reaching his decision, owes Nigerians an explanation on the modalities he used in interpreting and enforcing the judgement of the Supreme Court

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will take a position after receiving its lawyers’ analysis in the coming week.” While Nigerians were patiently awaiting INEC to do its investigation and consult the appropriate authorities in the said one week, the next day after the disclosure by Mr. Idowu of INEC, the electoral body announced its decision.

An important aspect of INEC’s decision is that the December 3, 2011 Kogi gubernatorial election remains valid.

As such, Captain Wada Idris, the purported governor-elect from the troubled PDP of Kogi State, is right to have been sworn in as governor after the Supreme Court judgement of January 27, 2011 by the President of the Customary Court of Appeal against the advice of the Attorney General of the Federa-

that INEC should not have looked inward for the meaning of the Supreme Court judgement, rather it should have waited to see how the apex court justices would interpret the judgement in line with the Constitution.

For emphasis, in legal tussles, where a gap of understanding emerges in a judgement, thus creating a conflict, especially where there is not such common meaning for interpretation of the judgement, it is the court that passed the verdict that is best positioned to reconcile the conflict.

This is where Prof. Jega missed the point. His reliance on INEC’s inhouse team to reach a decision on such a complex legal issue after only a day’s deliberation is highly suspicious.

Second, INEC needed

not involve itself in deciding the interpretation of the apex court verdict especially on whether a particular election after the court judgement is valid or not as over 200 armed policemen were deployed to ensure that the controversial governor-elect, Captain Wada, was installed as Kogi governor.

It is very sad that some people have assumed superiority over the apex court on the interpretation of the constitution and are even fighting to ensure that an illegality is upheld even against a fresh order of the Supreme Court.

This tragic incident of Capt. Idris Wada in Kogi State is another example of the shameless disobedience of court orders in Nigeria.

The acceptance by Wada Idris and some PDP leaders in Kogi to be used to usurp the Nigerian democracy is pathetic, especially given the fact that Justice Nasir Ajanah, the state Chief Judge had explained to them that he was constrained by the orders of the apex court to swear in the Speaker of the House of Assembly, a directive he legitimately carried out until force and naked intimidation were applied to deny the Speaker access to the Kogi State Government House.

The key point is that Wada Idris is illegally occupying the Kogi State Government House, an office which the Speaker asked by the Supreme Court to run its affairs until a new election was conducted.

Jega, in reaching his decision, owes Nigerians an explanation on the modalities he used in interpreting and enforcing the judgement of the Supreme Court.

The apex court, under the leadership of Justice Alloma Muktar, must perceive the necessity of a prompt interpretation of its judgement. Nevertheless, the occupation of the Lord Lugard House by Wada is illegitimate until the Supreme Court give appropriate interpretation of its judgement. * Shaibu is a public communications consultant based in Abuja

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ND so, they killed Chudi. What a bloody waste. Dr. Chudi Nwike was my friend. I did not always keep in touch, but I knew, somehow that he was out there; in the great grip of things, bold and idealistic; dreaming of great and worthy political battles. I was introduced to him when he became the Deputy governor of Anambra state, and I found him, among many things, voluble, thoughtful, idealistic, and certainly a man with some political ideas.

He was literate and wellread; a medical doctor who, like his great inspiration, Che Guevara, thought that true public service was equally a call to healing.

He counted himself on the left of the political spectrum; he was certainly one of those, who if you came into Enugu, was likely to make your visit worth it, in terms generally of the fact that he did not partake in the frivolity of mere jollity, but though not disdaining jollity, added a brilliant and serious take to things.

Sadly, I’d not seen Chudi since 2009, and perhaps spoke to him only once in the last five years, but as I said, he’d stayed somewhere in my horizon and in the unconscious. I’d not started counting him among the dead or dying yet; I had a clear sense that he had his years – great political years still ahead of him.

He had made political choices that tended more towards bridge-building; he had joined the AD; he was I have since learned, National Vice-President of the ACN, and I had no doubt that Dr. Chudi Nwike was a political force in the making; a truly great leader among the new generation of the Igbo; until his kidnap and the report of his death in the hands of his abductors this past week, Dr. Chudi Nwike was among those whom one could count as embodying the true example of future Igbo political renaissance and sterling public leadership. His political conscience was clear, and his heart and mind were in the right places. The news of his murder shook me to the bones, as it should shake any Igbo and Nigerian, or any human with any sense of worth. I am personally outraged that we have, as a society, slipped to this miasma; our sensibility deadened by the ubiquitous devaluation of the most sacred meaning of life. But of course, it is impotent rage.

My rage as a citizen counts not for much in Nigeria, because government stopped functioning. Governments that do not function do not listen to citizens’ concerns.

Citizens’ concerns do not count for anything when the state itself with which a contract of consent is pre-

sumably registered becomes fragmented, incoherent and transitional.

The current state of violence in Nigeria marks Nigeria as incoherent, fragmented and frightening.

My real concern is that Nigeria has moved too far into a culture of violence never before seen; not even under the military; but worse still, that the state in its current incoherence is unable to offer her citizens any assurance of protection and security.

If the Nigerian state can no longer protect us, what is its purpose? What is the reason for its existence? Dr. Nwike’s murder further highlights a most troubling

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VIEWPOINT

tion that Speakers of the affected states Houses of Assembly, including Kogi State’s Hon Abdullahi Bello, be sworn in as acting governors in line with the apex court j verdict which reversed the decision of the appellate court on tenure elongation. There are however consequences of the INEC decision, especially on Kogi, which will impact negatively on the Supreme Court judgement and the Nigerian democracy.

First INEC cannot determine for itself what the Supreme Court ruling will mean in a peculiar context like the state where gubernatorial election was conducted during the pendency of its (INEC) own appeal at the Supreme Court on December 3, 2011.

Given the growing controversy that has emerged with that decision by INEC, many public analysts have posited

Those who today feel protected behind the thick walls of official state protection as governors or as even as president or judges or legislators, may have to understand that time will come when they too will become exposed and vulnerable

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stage of the violence and insecurity that now ravages Nigeria. Here was a man – a public figure; a medical doctor; a national Vice-President of a political party and in fact, former Deputy governor of a state – abducted like some wet chicken, taken across state borders, and weeks later found dead with two other bodies dumped carelessly on the road between Agbor and Asaba.

A former deputy governor of a state no less! Not that it makes even a difference, were the now late Dr. Nwike to be another regular Nigerian, but the real problem here is that we have moved further and further out of the range of reason into pointless anomy. Death is now too easy; the paid Kidnapper and hired Assassin is now, by all indication, the fastest growing industry in Nigeria with limitless job opportunities.

As I write this, another great friend of mine – a fine gentleman by the name, Kehinde Bamigbetan, county chairman of the Ejigbo Local Council Authority, was reportedly kidnapped in Lagos, last

week. He is yet to be found.

We ought to consider that in the rise of this level of violence, everyone increasingly is fair game – from the president to the street cleaner.

Those who today feel protected behind the thick walls of official state protection as governors or as even as president or judges or legislators, may have to understand that time will come when they too will become exposed and vulnerable, and nothing says may not be found dead lying by the ditch on a lonely road, just like Dr. Chudi Nwike. It is easy to feel complacent when one is within these cocoons. Quite frankly, the police response to this killing is dismaying.

At the discovery of the body, the Delta State police spokesperson is reported to have said, “we cannot confirm that the body is he…we don’t know him!”

It is primitive and lackadaisical police work, and speaks once more to the sorry state of police services in Nigeria which makes it now possible for Nigeria to be increasingly overwhelmed by this surge of killings and with no justice for the victims. Heck! Even a serving State Police Commissioner was waylaid and shot square on the guts in Enugu, and to date, the police apparatus, has not interdicted his killers.

Dr. Chudi Nwike is now just another victim.

The way we are going, and by all indexes, Nigeria has actively slipped into a Somali-type catalepsis.

The president is busy negotiating amnesty for the Boko Haram ghosts in the north, where social order has virtually collapsed, while in the South, even the high gates built by the wealthy to hide their faces from the poor, seem now incapable of protecting them from kidnappers and hired assassins.

The South too is at war with itself. It is currently a low intensity war. But it is also a war of values. In a region with a young, highly educated but unemployed and even unemployable population, we no longer have a ticking bomb. The bomb has gone off. But I write today about Chudi Nwike: his party, the ACN of which he was national Vice-President has made only but tepid noises about this killing; the Anambra state government of which he served as Deputy governor has shown interests no keener in unraveling his killers as though Dr. Nwike were no more than another number in its mortality statistics; just tepid sympathies offered to his family.

Who killed Chudi Nwike? Is this political assassination? Is this a kidnap and ransom situation gone awry? Is this the way a good man should go? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.

PAGE 48, SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

Ayo Oritsejafor: The dogged lion equipping people

BY SAM EYOBOKA

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HE Christian Bible describes pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father as; “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

At least three Pentecostal leaders who were Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital last February for the 12th biennial conference of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, extolled the virtues of the outgoing national president, describing him as a man divinely anointed for a crucial assignment at a critical period of the nation, Nigeria.

National president, Dr. Felix Omobude who articulated the thoughts of Pentecostal leaders at the Uyo Township Stadium described Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as a Lion and a man sent by God for a specific assignment at a specific period in a nation like Nigeria.

Indeed, Pastor Oritsejafor must be a Lion, a man from an obscure corner of the nation, to be so passionate about a deliberate plot to annihilate a generation of Christians who have refused to be Islamised and are daily being persecuted. Long before he became CAN president, he was a lone voice in the wilderness drawing world attention to the multi-dimensional war against Northern Christians who are not given C of O to build churches, not considered for political appointments, and all manner of discriminations in their own land.

It was also in the same spirit that he, on a number of occasions, took relief materials to various parts of the North after the numerous militant attacks in Maiduguri, Bauchi, Jos, and other parts of the North. The Northern Christian leaders testified then, that he was the first Southern Christian leader to do so. Beyond rehabilitating some of the victims of the Boko Haram violence, he vehemently spoke against the danger of a full scale sectarian war which he acknowledged then, was crucial to the corporate existence of the country.

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overty and under development have been identified as a twin serious socioeconomic challenge facing the Nigerian government in the last couple of years. On a number of occasions, these two socioeconomic elements have brought the giant of Africa to her knees and dehumanized the national psyche. There is a scripture that says “the poor you will always have in your midst”, and the security of a nation is often

threatened as the number of the poor increases and the nation’s leaders do nothing to stop the trend. Taking a cue from the intertribal crises in Warri, and recognizing that it takes men with Godly hearts to rewrite the destiny of a failing nation, the national president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and the founder of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor have taken the gauntlet to lead a crusade aimed at empowering the teeming youths and the active poor in the Nigerian society.

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n the last 13 years, he and his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor fondly called Papa and Mama within the Christian circle in Nigeria have been consistently involved in one form of empowerment programme for church members and members of the public. As far back as 1998, Mama Oritsejafor incorporated a trade fair/exhibition programme into the annual Women convention known as Daughters of Sarah international convention.

It was aimed to bring people from different fields of human endeavor to display goods and services, thereby encouraging

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor: Believes in philantrophy trades. The Daughters of Sarah international trade had expanded to over 200 stands.

In line with his philanthropic vision and the need to strive to rid the nation of scoundrels, the CAN president also established the Eagle Hand International Foundation which takes care of the elderly and orphans, vulnerable young men and women in Warri and its environ. enterpreneural spirit in church people and act as a catalyst for economic growth. Since then also, she has been empowering women with small grants to help start small and medium scale businesses. In fact, the Daughters of Sarah fellowship has started empowering women long before the FEAP loan scheme was inaugurated at the national level.

Born in Ekiti and married to a Delta State man, Mrs. Oritsejafor overcame initial tribal barriers and has set an economic empowerment platform for women in the Niger Delta to key into and rise above all primordial sentiments against womanhood.

In less than two years, over 200 women had been empowered via the Word of Life Bible Church annual empowerment programme to start different

In 2000, Pastor Oritsejafor initiated a university scholarship scheme for undergraduates as well as indigent students wishing to study in Polytechnics and college of education. Every year, he gave out 10 scholarships and recently, one international education scholarship for a young man to study in Cyprus, Greece. In a bid to overcome poverty, he set up the Eagle Flight Micro Finance Bank in 2005, which has tremendously changed the fortunes of the active poor in Warri and its environs.

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he micro finance bank services over 500 cooperative groups with micro credits that enable co-operators expand and build new businesses. The Word of Life Bible Church in conjunction with

the Eagle Flight Micro Finance Bank holds a poverty alleviation programme on December 26 every year. At inception of the programme, one brand new car to be used as a taxi in Warri and several motorcycles, grinding machines and sewing machines were given out to free irrespective of your tribe, religion or denomination, just to help the poor have a source of living.

Recognizing the negative impact of motorcycles, the philanthropists par excellence decided for tricycles instead. So far, the programme has given out 350 motorcycles, 70 tricycles, 800 grinding machines, 15 brand new cars and 600 sewing machines.

In line with his philanthropic vision and the need to strive to rid the nation of scoundrels, the CAN president also established the Eagle Hand International Foundation which takes care of the elderly and orphans, vulnerable young men and women in Warri and its environ.

The Eagle Hand Orphanage as at today has over 16 orphans, while several have been adopted through a government agency in charge of orphanages.

Pastor Oritsejafor has consistently helped to resettle Christian families and churches in the North who have lost their loved ones and property to the Boko Haram menace in recent time. The Word of Life Bible Church which played a significant role in resolving the Warri crises and the militancy in the Niger Delta region, has

become a safe haven for Northern Christians, as Mama Helen has often taken the gospel of empowerment to the North East.

She had started many of them with trades such as catering, hair dressing, fashion design and mobile phone business.

In ensuring poverty is reduced to the barest minimum, Pastor Oritsejafor takes corporate social responsibility very seriously, by donating several boreholes to various primary and secondary schools, markets across Delta State. He also donated two boreholes, a new generator and refurbished the Warri Prisons Black Maria vehicles for conveyance of prison inmates to courts.

To support the education standard in the country, the couple has also established an international standard, nursery, primary and secondary school.

In just three years, the school has won an outstanding award. He also proposes to establish a university in the nearest future to help build educational system.

Every year, he holds a love feast on February 14 to share love with all sundry in Warri and its environs where he gives out bags of rice and cash, to poor families as a way of showing them the agape love of God. In 2012, he gave out 1,000 bags of rice, and N1,000 to each family, to prepare the rice and enjoy the celebration.

His humanitarian work is all over the place in Delta state and its environs, which he has extended to other communities in the state.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013, PAGE 49

Boko Haram amnesty: CAN carpets JNI over comment on Oritsejafor, others

THE KINGDOM OF THE RICH

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WHILE ago, my wife and I were invited to a thanksgiving service.

Most of us in attendance were filthy rich. Jesus says God blesses with poverty and not with riches. (Luke 6:20-25).

By CALEB AYANSINA

The rich inherit this life but fail to inherit the life to come. The rich inherit this life but fail to inherit the life to come

But we were there to celebrate the “blessed” riches of a particular family.

We were all gorgeously dressed, celebrating their riches and ours in song, dance, and prayers; presuming that since ours is the kingdom of men, the kingdom of God would also be ours.

After a while, Karen and I could no longer stand the deception. It reminded me of a Redeemed Church parish we once joined, only to discover the Sunday services were devoted to fashion parades. We quickly ran out of there to seek the kingdom of God in more conducive surroundings.

Rich man’s world Without a doubt, this world is the kingdom of the rich.

In the world, the rich are glorified and highly esteemed. But Jesus says: “what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). Even mega-pastors, with their designer-suits, cortege of cars and jet-planes have long-joined the exalted ranks of the rich.

The rich are used to getting what we want. If a place is exclusive, it is usually admissible to the rich. In Nigeria we say: “Na money kill am.”

That means money is a door-opener.

If we are rich, the world is our oyster.

We have access to the best this world has to offer.

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Says Onaiyekan, Kukah, Unongo can’t speak for Christians

ut now we are talking about the kingdom of God where everything in this world is turned upside-down. The kingdom of God is not the kingdom of the rich.

Indeed, Jesus maintains it is the rich who are handicapped in entering the kingdom of God. The poor can afford the entrance-fee but, paradoxically, the rich cannot afford it. The rich fail to appreciate that: “a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15). Solomon echoes this, saying: “the ransom of a man's life is his riches.” (Proverbs 13:8).

Expensive salvation The price for entering the kingdom of God is precisely what the rich cannot afford to pay. The cost of eternal life is a man’s life. Jesus says: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25). However, the rich love our lives. We consider ourselves to be blessed precisely because of the privileged lives we live.

We do everything in our power to safeguard our possessions. We consider our riches in this world to be worth two in the kingdom. Therefore, we are loath to forsake all for the sake

of gaining a kingdom we are not even sure exists.

When Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he has and give to the poor in order to inherit eternal life, the price was too high for him to pay. Matthew says: “When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:22). Accordingly, the rich inherit this life but fail to inherit the life to come.

Thus, James warns: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!” (James 5:1).

The poor, however, hate their life and should therefore have little problem forsaking it. It should not be difficult for a man to relinquish what he hates.

But some poor folks fall into the culde-sac of aspiring to be rich on earth, at the expense of seeking the kingdom of God. Those in this predicament often end up with double-jeopardy. They might not inherit this life and also fail to inherit the life to come.

Confounding the rich Jesus says: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24). This statement has confounded rich Christians, who are determined to hold on to our riches; as well as poor Christians, who aspire to be rich. The deception of the rich has been to maintain that Jesus could not have meant heaven will be denied the rich.

Some even claim Jesus’ statement is merely a reference to a small entrance on the wall of Jerusalem called “the eye of a needle,” which camels have great difficulty passing through.

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ut no such entrance exists. Its fabrication testifies to the inclination of the rich to make falsehood our refuge. Even Jesus’ poor disciples reasoned that without the rich, heaven would be a poor place. They asked: if those “blessed” with riches cannot be saved, who then will be saved?

According to Jesus, God makes possible the impossibility of the rich inheriting his kingdom by offering the rich the option to become poor for Christ’s sake. First, the rich must agree to be impoverished. Thereafter, God might decide to enrich you on his own terms. The first in this world must become last before it can then become first in Christ. (Mark 10:31). That is kingdom dynamics.

Jealous God However, many of us simply see Jesus as a means to gaining

this world. Peter queried Jesus: “See, we have left all and followed you.

Therefore what shall we have?” (Matthew 19:27).

Jesus asked him in return: “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15).

Can our lust of the eye and the flesh and our pride of life withstand the burning fire of God’s jealousy?

Let me tell you a parable. When I finally managed to buy a Lexus Jeep, I fell madly in love with it. It was everything I expected. I would spend hours polishing and admiring it. Then one day, my wife asked me if I loved her. I said of course I do. She said: “I want you to do me a favour. I want you to give me your Lexus.” I was flabbergasted. “But we own it together,” I protested. “No,” she said, “I want you to give it to me, so that the Jeep would belong exclusively to me.” I resisted and she sulked: “You don’t really love me.” “I love you,” I said. “Okay, I’ll buy you another Jeep.” “No,” she replied. “I don’t want another Jeep. I want your Lexus.”

After one year of nagging, sulking and complaining, I finally relented and gave her the Jeep. She said: “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure.”

“You mean it is really mine.” “Yes. Yes. Yes.” The next day she called me outside to see the Jeep. I thought she was washing it; it was all wet.

You would not believe what happened. She struck a match and set fire to it. How was I to know she had poured petrol all over it? “What in God’s name are you doing?” I protested. Her response was a classic: “You gave me the Jeep. If it is mine, I can do whatever I want with it. And what I want to do with it is to set it on fire.”

God wants us to know what we call “wonderful” is actually “wonder-less.”

Jesus says: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33).

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BUJA—THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has frowned at utterances of the Ja’amatu Nasril Islam (JNI) that tagged CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, and his executive council as enemies of Nigeria over their stand on amnesty for the Boko Haram sect.

The Islamic body, recently in a press conference in Kaduna, wondered if “they (CAN) were appointed special advisers to the President on the perpetration of insecurity?” even when some Christian leaders like John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Bishop Matthew Kukah as well as Paul Unongo have thrown their weight behind the amnesty for the sect.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake, said although Cardinal Onaiyekan and Bishop Kukah were respected Catholic leaders, they could not speak for Nigerian Christians neither could they speak for CAN. Asake said: “The two men do not have any moral or institutional authority to speak for Nigerian Christians. Their position remains very unpopular among the persecuted church in the North. Only CAN is vested with such powers, notwithstanding the constitutional rights of the two men to air their opinions on any national issues.

“Therefore, Cardinal Onaiyekan and Bishop Kukah do not speak for Nigerian Christians, not even for CAN in any of the 19 Northern states. What they are saying is their personal opinion that does not take into consideration the plight of the victims.”

CAN further expressed surprise that JNI ascribed the title of ‘Pastor’ to Mr. Paul Unongo, insisting that “Unongo does not represent any segment of Christianity because he is not one, agreed he is a well-known son of the Middle Belt.”

Asake maintained that Boko Haram insurgency was a creation of the northern leaders and JNI believed to have strong link with the sect, therefore, the Islamic body must find its way of curbing the menace.

He said: “But JNI should hear this: the Boko Haram insurgency is a snake on their (JNI) thatched roof. It is the Magida, the landlord and his tenant who can device the most effective way of dealing with it.

“Asking the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram members amounts to calling the government to come and kill the snake with a torch.

The JNI must begin to query the change in its value system; a system that now makes them spokesperson of a murderous and blood thirsty group without being sensitive to the victims of the sect, a system that allows for the slaughtering of human beings like cows without any remorse.

“CAN will not fail to point out that the present clamour for amnesty to the Boko Haram members by the Sultan and his cohorts is a strategy to drive home the message of reaping from where they did not show.

It is a strategy to get a better deal for those they have improvised for years. By canvassing for amnesty to blood-thirsty, Islamic fundamentalists who have killed without provocation, the JNI is promoting the culture of crass impunity that desecrates the sanctity of human life.

“The earlier it (JNI) retraces its steps and begins to fish out the fundamentalists among them the better for our dear country.”

Asake called on President Jonathan “to as a matter of urgency to dismiss the whole idea of amnesty for an unrepentant group, because it would be a panacea for confusion in the country”, adding that issue of victims of the sect should be taken with seriousness before any step taken further.

The cleric urged Christians to pray while making effort to defend themselves, “since Boko Haram does not see anything wrong with their style of Jihad against the Church, all we can do now is to pray, while making efforts to defend ourselves and communities.”

PAGE 50 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

chimeena@yahoo.com 08056180157

BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

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Remembering Nigeria’s Pioneer writers P

ita Nwanna: Late Pita Nwanna is the father Of Igbo language novel. His popular classic, Omenuko was a must read in Igbo public schools in the 70s through the 80s’. The adventure prosaic narrative was fore runner of other classical Igbo literary works like; Aku Fechaaa Odara Awo( play), Isi Akwu daranála and Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya Odaa, Ala Bingo, Utara Nti and many other titles that helped to enrich scholarship in Igbo language and literature. The novel, Omenuko was commended for the richness of the culture and traditions within which the story is written.

According to records, Professor Chinua Achebe was said to be only 3 years old when the very first Igbo novel, Omenuko was published.

The story line which although is fictionalised, exposes intrusions of early missionary and court interactions in Igboland which should be of interest to the world. With the language and author ’s style, which make the novel outstanding, one expects that Omenuko, should have been translated into English Language and of course, other African Languages.

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ohn Munonye was an important Igbo writer and one of the most important Nigerian writers of the 19th century, who lived between April 1929 and May 10 1999. And unlike some of his contemporaries, he was said to have professed a love for optimism in the face of colonial clamp down on traditional values.

The Akokwa, Imo State born writer who was educated at the University of Ibadan and the Institute of Education, London has titles such as The Only Son, Obi, Oil Man of Obange: A Wreath for the Maidens, A Dancer of Fortune and Bridge to a Wedding.

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yprian Ekwensi was an iconic writer, as well as a teacher, forester, pharmacist, broadcaster and film-maker. He published more than 40 books in addition to radio and television scripts, before passing on at the age of 86.

He is reputed to be the father of the urban narrative or what is preferred

rior to the years when Nigerian writers such as late Prof Chinua Achebe, Chris Okigbo, Noble Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, JP Clarke and their literary works began receiving recognition, there were several other powerful authors whose creative works made huge impact, setting the pace for what is now known as Nigerian Literary industry. Although the works of these great writers still stand out among best sellers reading titles, sadly, not many of them are paid their due accolades.

to be described as city novel. A modern reader will no doubt locate Ekwensi narrative aesthetics between the boundaries social realism and urban culture.

His first novel, People of the City was published in 1954, four years before Prof Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart while Jagua Nana won Ekwensi the 1968 Dag Hammarskjöld prize in literature.

His most outstanding and successful novel was Jagua Nana published in 1961, about a Pidgin-speaking Nigerian woman who leaves her husband to work as a prostitute in a city and falls in love with a teacher.

He also wrote a sequel to Jagua Nana titled Jagua Nana’s Daughter.

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ode Sowande, a Nigerian writer and dramatist who was renowned for the beauty in the manner that his plays which usually emphasise on humanism and social change, are written. He and the likes of Zulu Sofola, Femi Osofisan and Festus Iyayi are among writers who favour a much more political tone in their writings which seek to promote change against the status quo in the life of the common man as well as farmers who constitute the majority of the Nigerian society. Some of his plays are: The Night Before Babylon, A Farewell to Babylon and Other Plays, Flamingo and other plays.

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zenwa-Ohaeto is a poet, shortstory writer, biographer and literary scholar. Some of his most recent works are Winging Words, The Chants of a Minstrel, which won the

World dance day in Lagos...

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s part of the events celebrating World Dance Day in Nigeria, dance scholars, researchers and practitioners shall be converging at the National Theatre, Iganmu-Lagos on Saturday the 27th of April 2013, for a round table discussion on “the challenges of dance scholarship and practice in Nigeria”.

It is expected that at the end of the one-day event, an umbrella association that will cater for the needs of dancer practitioners and scholars shall be birthed.

Mr. Arnold Udoka, Deputy artistic Director (Dance) at the National Troupe of Nigeria shall be hosting and coordinating the events. It is expected that dance teachers, researchers and practitioners from Nigerian Universities and other Tertiary Institutions will be attending.

ANA/NDDC Poetry Prize for 2004 and The Voice of the Night Masquerade, all published by Kraft Books, Nigeria.

He is the author of an authorised biography of Chinua Achebe, which was given the Choice Outstanding Book Award in 1998. His poetry has been performed in English and Igbo languages throughout the world. As a result of his literary achievements and immense contribution towards the advancement of human knowledge, Ezenwa Ohaeto, a professor of literature, and award winning poet, died in Cambridge, England, few weeks after jointly won the 2nd edition of the LNG literary prize in 2005.

•Zulu Sofola

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ulu Sofola who passed away on September 5, 1995, was the first published female Nigerian playwright and dramatist. She was also a university teacher who became the first female Professor of Theater Arts in Africa.

Nwazuluwa Onuekwuke Sofola was born in Bendel State to parents who were Igbo from Issele-Uku in Delta State.

Her plays such as King Emene” which perhaps, is her most successful works, range from historical tragedy to domestic comedy and use both traditional and modern African setting”. She uses “elements of magic, myth and ritual to examine conflicts between traditionalism and modernism in which male supremacy persists.” She was considered one of the most distinguished women in Nigerian literature. Sofola’s most frequently performed plays are Wedlock of the Gods published in 1972 and The Sweet Trap (1977). She died in 1995 at the age of 60.

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ames Ene Henshaw is a physician by profession and one of the pioneering dramatists in Nigeria, as well as one of the first to be published outside West Africa. This Is Our Chance, which has undergone many re-printings is his most popular work.

It has also been staged by professional companies as well as school and amateur groups. Other works by Henshaw include; Children Of The Goddess, Companion For A Chief, Dinner For Promotion, Enough Is Enough etc.

As Henshaw himself recounted of This

•Ene Henshaw

•Ezenwa Ohaeto is Our Chance, he had set out, consciously, to write plays whose scenes take place in surroundings that are not far removed from Africa. His plays, capture topical issues relating to the West African society as they seek to throw light on the declining morality of a newly independent society. Henshaw died on 16th august 2007, while working on his last project which was translating Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar into his native Efik language.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 — PAGE 51

52 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2013

Book Review

BY TONY NWANKWO

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HE above book, written by Iyase, Dr. Sylvan Olisanye Ebigwei, is a compilation of materials sourced from media mentions since the formation of the game of Chess in Nigeria, from the time he was a student at St. Patrick’s College, Asaba, Delta State. It is published

by Worldwide Controls Nigeria Limited and its for public launch on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairss, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The book tells how a meeting with an American Peace Corps tutor at school raised Ebigwei’s curiosity of the game and helped create awareness in Nigeria and Africa.

His early contributions earned him a place in the Encyclopedia of Chess by Bats Ford Publishers, London. This is quickly followed by Politics in Sports – Chess, as the author relives his experience in the administration of Chess as a sport in Nigeria. As a founding member of the African Chess Federation in 1975, the author brought the Nigerian

CHESS: A National Legacy Chess Federation into the World Chess Federation.

Together with Englishman, Chess Grand Master, Raymond King (OBE), the author started a 38-member Commonwealth Chess Association and became President, Nigerian Chess Federation in January, 1981. Soon thereafter, the World Chess Federation Bureau confirmed his appointment as an international arbiter of Federation Internationale Des Echess (FIDE). The same month, Ebigwei was elected Vice Chairman of the Commonwealth Association at the end of the association’s meeting in Valetta, Malta.

The book also describes how Ebigwei used his position as a pioneer of the game in Nigeria to battle apartheid in South Africa.

He spearheaded the motion for the removal of South Africa Chess Federation and the FIDE permanent fund located in Lebanon Gold Mining Company, an apartheid South Africa registered company. The request ensured that it was moved to another country.. This fight affected the Chess Federation, FIDE, until a far reaching decision was

taken at the World Chess Olympiad and Congress in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 1986. Peace returned when the company was sanctioned leading to the recall of an expelled South Africa. And at the election that followed, the author emerged ACF President.

The fight for Chess in Nigeria was also fierce.

Ebigwei identified the then National Director of Sports, Mr. Isaac Akioye as the stumbling block between his passion, Chess, and national recognition. He had concluded that the Nigerian government was not showing enough interest in Chess, so while the game was growing in other countries, the rate of growths in Nigeria was poor.

A chapter is devoted to Muamar Ghadaffi of Libya whose contributions to Chess and its acceptance in the continent is given a prime of space. The Libyan strongman played the game and encouraged its spread in Africa. For instance, after being denied admission into the World Chess Federation, it was Ebigwei who proposed the nomination in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1978, and

Mba: Gov Uduaghan please act now M

Y dear Governor, I write you today not only to say that I see what your government is doing for Delta State in the area of sports, which is my primary constituency, but to add that I equally appreciate the impact it is having on our sports men and women.

My aim of writing this open letter which is the only way I can get across to you, is the impression one of your sports administrators gave me a couple of days ago; that is that you see me as a hater of Delta State because, according to the official, I never see anything good in what the Delta State government is doing.

Sir, at my age (by the grace of God, on Tuesday April 23, 2013, I’ll be adding two years to the second half of my life on earth) I’ll not be doing

myself any good if I see something going wrong and I don’t do anything about it.

Even though I’m Edoborn, I see myself also as a Deltan, having married from the State but most importantly having come from the old Midwestern State and later Bendel, from which Edo and Delta were carved out.

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s a young boy grow ing up in our old State, I was a living witness to the landmark the State made under our dear governor at the time, then Brigadier Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia. We, including you sir I guess, were proud Bendelites then.

One expected that despite the split of the State, both Edo and Delta should be way ahead of others in the

area of talent discovery and nurturing. One also expected that such facilities like the Afuze camp where our athletes trained without distraction those days, would dot the two states. But alas, that is not to be.

Even though both States claim to remain top, with Delta having the upper hand these days, they cannot claim to be churning out budding talents like Bendel of old. Rather, they depend mostly on established stars to make hay while leaving hitherto backbenchers like Cross River and Ondo to discover and groom athletes for the big two to poach later.

To buttress this sir, take a look at school sports and grass-root athletics competition results these days and you would discov-

Libya was admitted. So, as pay back, Ghadaffi made funds available for the formation of the African Chess Federation through the Libyan Chess Federation.

The book is a celebration of the author and his contributions to society. An accomplished man, the President Emeritus of the apex Igbo think tank organisation, Aka Ikenga, his regrets is that the game of Chess, like other sports has been politicized. “You can see today, you have a chess federation or chess association of which the secretary does not know how to play chess. It’s all politics. Most of the board members were brought through political avenues.

That way you can’t grow the game”, he told journalists, recently.

“They are interested on how to collect estacode. This dampens the spirit and enthusiasm of serious players. And because of this negative politics, many African countries who are noble and business minded surpassed us, even though we brought them into the world body, paying their affiliation fees”, he said.

“I went into chess as an undergraduate of the College of Medicine, er that States like Cross River and Imo are doing better than Edo and Delta.

Cross River in particular has taken the lead because of the grass-root revolution programme of Governor Liyel Imoke. Ironically, the revolution is the handiwork of a man that once gave Delta the edge, Bruce Ijirigho, who has left Delta for no reason known to this writer. Delta and her sister State, Edo have more or less turned to competition promotion States and no longer the nursery of budding talents.

That is my worry which I don’t fail to highlight at every given opportunity and that is why I’m being labeled a Delta hater.

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ir, is it not a surprise to you that Warri, Benin and Lagos have all lost out to Calabar as home of the Eagles? Have you asked yourself why? The reason is rooted in the decision of these three states to allow themselves to be deceived by some greedy administrators in connivance with some top FIFA chiefs with former Executive member, Jack Warner as the head, that astro or artificial turf was the in-thing now.

University of Lagos, from where we formed the University Chess Association in 1973. I was able to organise all the existing universities in Nigeria to form what was known as the Nigerian Universities Chess Association. I was the first president. When I qualified, I met people like Dr. Pius Okigbo and the rest, and we teamed up and formed the Nigerian Chess Federation with Pius Okigbo as president and myself as the organising secretary. After two years, I took over as the president of the national association and was there for more than 10 years until I got chess into the national commission recognised as a

sport.

“When I was forming Chess, my intention was not just for us to play it, but to win laurels, both nationally and internationally. Yet, today, Nigeria has no single grandmaster of Chess. And I regret it. Some of the other countries in Africa we helped now have grandmasters of Chess.

So, we should try as much as possible to play down on politics in games like Chess. Politics cannot be everything. We should seek our best, and when we find them, we should celebrate them. We should not be celebrating the worst among us.

If that was correct, why does FIFA not host its World Cup matches on artificial turfs? Even England that Nigerians follow their Premiership like a religion, do you see any of the stadia having such pitches?

Calabar is the only alternative to Abuja Stadium now because most of the big boys in the Super Eagles have sounded it clear that they cannot risk their legs playing on artificial turfs any longer. That is why Warri Stadium, Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin and the Teslim Balogun Stadium never get a look in by the NFF again.

In my last piece on this page, I blamed your club, Warri Wolves, Rangers of Enugu, the league organisers, NPFL and the NFF because if they all had done their bit, Mba would not be enmeshed in the double registration that has entangled him now. The NFF however, came out belatedly on Friday to declare Mba and Chigozie Agbim, Warri Wolves players. Why did it take them so long to say so.

So sir, in the interest of the player and the country which still needs his services, especially in the on-going World Cup qualifiers and the 2013 Confederation Cup in Brazil, your early intervention is needed here. Mba should be forgiven for his error just like the prodigal son who squandered his father’s riches. Rangers should also swallow their pride and go beg Warri Wolves while Mba should humble himself and apologise to Delta State government which took him as one of their own and splashed millions of Naira on him for the Nations Cup victory like a Warri Wolves player, which he was or is still.

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ir, before I end this piece, I urge you to wade into the burning issue of the Sunday Mba transfer which has tied down the young man that bought smiles to our faces with his exploits in South Africa about two months ago during the Africa Nations Cup, 19 years after we celebrated such a victory. He shouldn’t be allowed to waste away because of the mistake made by all the parties now scrambling for him, including the NFF, which administers the game here.

SUNDAY, Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013 — 53

Pomp as Sarah K agho-Omomadia w eds Kagho-Omomadia weds It was a blissful wedding experience spruced with glitz and glamour when Sarah Kagho-Omomadia, daughter of Mr and Mrs Kelvin Kagho-Omomadia, wedded Tokunbo Ayodeji Alaran, son of Archbishop S.O Alaran and Reverend (Mrs) J.A. Daramola.

The couple took their matrimonial oaths at Christ Reality Church, Abule Ado, Satellite Town, Lagos before a gathering of high profile guests including family and friends. Photos

by Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Groom’s parents, Archbishop S.O Alaran & Revd. (Mrs) J.A Daramola

From left:Mrs Victoria Kagho-Omomadia, bride’s mother, Mr & Mrs Tokunbo Alaran, couple, and Mr Kelvin Kagho -Omomadia , father of the bride.

L-R: Mr Godfrey Amuka-Pemu with Mr Israel Amuka-Pemu and Ben Akerele.:

L-R:Mrs Patience Otagba , Mr Kelvin Kagho-Omomadia and Mr O.C KaghoOmomadia.

L-R:Mrs Rita Amuka,Ms Yeye Rewane and Mrs Victoria Kagho-Omomadia.

L-R:Mrs Jane Pela , Mrs Ese Omomadia , Johnson Omomadia and Tunde Gideon

Moshood Bada celebrat es 80 in style celebrates

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The celebrant, Alhaji Moshood Bada (m), wife, Alhaja Adenike Bada, with children and grandchildren

lhaji Moshood Olasumbo Bada, also known as MM Bada, the Baba Adinni of Anthony Central Mosque celebrated his 80th birthday in grand style at Newcastle Hotel, Anthony Village, Saturday, March 23rd.

Notable personalities including Chief Alex Duduyemi, Chief Bode Osinusi, Chief Layi Balogun, Chief Anthony Soetan, Chief Olu Falomo amongst others graced the occasion. The occasion was preceded by a prayer session led by the Chief Imam of Anthony Central Mosque followed by the reception which was by every standard top class. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele

L-R: Chief Dehinde Lucas, Past Chairman of Island Club; Chief Olu Falomo and Alhaji Y A Quadri

L-R: Alhaji Abdul Raheem Adeniran; Alhaji Safiriyu Jagun and Alhaji Layi Balogun

From left; Chief Anthony Soetan, former Chairman, Island Club; Alhaji S.O. Babalola and Dr Hakeem Agboola

From right; Chief Bode Osinusi; Dr Ladi Bada; Mrs Fehintola Bada and Mrs Funlola Ogbara

L-R: Chief Alex Duduyemi, The Aro of Ife and Chief S. A. Jimoh

PAGE 54 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013

God's glory as Pastor (Dr) Gabriel Olutola,JP, joined the octogenarian club To the glory of God, Pastor (Dr) Olutola, JP, National President and Chairman, LAWNA of the Apostolic Church, Nigeria, on April 4, joined the octogenarian club when he turned 80. It was a week-long celebration by family members, friends and well wishers with the anointed man of God. The celebration in pictures:

Pastor Olutola during the thanksgiving service to round-off the birthday at the National Temple of LAWNA of the Apostolic Church, Nigeria

From left: Pastor Olutola; Deputy Gov of Lagos State, Mrs Orelope Adejoke-Adefulire; wife of Lagos State Gov, Mrs Abimbola Fashola; and CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, at the thanks giving service

From left: Pastor Olutola; Deputy Gov of Lagos State, Mrs Orelope Adejoke Adefulire; and wife of Lagos State Gov, Mrs Abimbola Fashola

The dedication and handing over of Mission House built by Pastor Olutola at Okebode, his home town

Dignitaries at the launch of the book in honour of Pastor Olutola

Pastor Olutola presenting gift items to widows at Okebode, his home town

From L-R: Dr Ebenezer Okebukola, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Samuel Adegboyega University, Pastor I.G Fakunle, LAWNA Admin Sec, Elder Bisi Ogunjobi, Chairman, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Pastor Gabriel Olutola, Celebrant, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Guest Lecturer, Prof. Ben Aigbohan, VC, Samuel Adegboyega University and Chairman of the occasion, Mrs Bola Apoeso, nee Olutola and Elder Adelowokan, former SSG Osun State, at the special lecture to mark the birthday, held at Airport Hotel, Ikeja

Pastor (Dr) Olutola with two of his daughters

Elder Bisi Ogunjobi, Pro Chancellor & Chairman Governing Council Samuel Adegboyega University (l), presenting a gift to Professor Yemi Osinbajo, former Attorney General Lagos State and Guest Speaker at the special lecture to mark the birthday

Gifts being presented to Ikoyi Prisons inmates

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 21, 2013 — PAGE 55

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 21, 2013

AFRICA U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP

Eaglets salvage image, pummel *Pick World Cup ticket Congo 7-0

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CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:

IGERIA’s Golden Eaglets returned to their scoring best yesterday when they thrashed Congo 7-0 at the on-going CAF Under-17 Championship in Morocco to qualify for

Rangers ready to roll over Recreativo Libolo

the semi-final and also book a place in the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey.

The Eaglets who were pipped 1-0 in their second group game by Cote’d Ivoire showed their ruthless attacking prowess as they left the Congolese reeling in flurry of goals. The Congolese drew their first two games against Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

Kelechi Iheanacho and the tournament leading goal scorer, Isaac Success were responsible for the destruction of the Congolese who have now crashed out alongside Ghana who played out a goalless draw with Cote d’ Ivoire in the other group game. Iheanacho scored a hat-trick, while Success recorded a brace to bring his tally so far to six goals.

Iheanacho opened the

flood gates of goals in only four minutes of play, while Success made it two for Nigeria shortly afterwards and he shattered the confidence of their opponents.

He added another from the spot after Congo defender Imouele fouled in the box and he was sent off. The Congolese fought back to salvage their campaign, but that only ended in misery as they were reduced to nine men after Yobi was sent off. Musa Yahaya slotted in the fifth goal, while Mathew Ifeanyi made it six and Iheaanacho completed the rout when he fired home with a powerful shot.

The Eaglets topped the group with six points, they will play Tunisia on Wednesday, while Cote d’Ivoire will take on Morocco in the other semi-final on Tuesday.

HARP teams up with 5 professional league clubs

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TUSSLE ... Rangers players in a tussle for the ball during a match. They host Recreative Libolo in Enugu today

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IGERIA’s only surviving club in continental soccer contest, Rangers International will today host Angola’s Recreativo Libolo in the first leg second round qualifiers of the the CAF Champions League at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium, Enugu with an aim to win and progress to lucrative group stage.

But according to Rangers coach, Okey Emordi, it will be a tough match for the his team, but the motivation of being the only Nigerian club standing in the Champions

League will spur them to posting a convincing win over the Angolan club.

“I expect a very tough game from the Angolans but I am very sure that we shall overcome them.

By God’s grace, we shall find our range that day so as to make the return leg a mere formality,” said Emordi, who led Enyimba to second champions league title in 2004.

Striker Sanusi Sani also admitted that the Angolan club will be a tough nut to crack.

“It won’t be an easy match but we are ready

RESULTS Fulham Norwich QPR Sunderland Swansea West Brom West Ham Real Madrid

0 2 0 1 0 1 2 3

Arsenal Reading Stoke Everton S’hampton Newcastle Wigan Betis

1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1

Today’s Premiership matches Tottenham Liverpool

v v

Man City Chelsea

4pm 4pm

for the task. We are in good form ahead of the game and have been training hard for it.

Our target is to win by a wide margin to make the second leg easy for us. I will be happy to be among the goal scorers but victory, a convincing one, is the priority,” he said.

Rangers beat Vital’ O of Burundi 2-0 on aggregate to reach the second round, while Recretivo Libolo ousted Sudanese Al Merreikh 4-2 on aggregate after winning home and away. Last season Sunshine of Akure dumped the Angolan side from the champions league.

IVE football clubs, Heartland FC of Owerri, Rangers FC of Enugu, Sunshine Stars of Akure, Lobi Stars of Makurdi and Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt are to benefit from a sponsorship deal with Harp Premium lager, a product of Guinness Nigeria Plc. With this sponsorship, Harp Lager becomes the first beer brand in Nigeria to sponsor five football clubs in Nigerian Professional Football League.

The sponsorship covers full-shirt branding rights, pitch panel visibility, live match coverage and placement, stadium branding and merchandising on match days, operating exclusive fan

zones at match venues and exclusive branding of the clubs’ official supporters club.

According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu, “This sponsorship is a reflection of Harp’s immense growth over the years in terms of its national coverage and consumer reach.

This also reflects our commitment to enhancing the experience of football fans all over the country, hence identifying with these football Clubs. The five clubs were selected based on a growing fan-followership in each club’s respective home regions, and the accolades they have won over the years” Adetu said.

CROSS WORD PUZZLE Across 1 Burkina-Faso “Stallions” Striker, Jonathan – (8) 5 Flying Eagles U-20 Coach, John – (4) 7 Former PDP Chairman, Solomon – (3) 8 Greek Goddess – (4) 9 L.G.A in Edo State – (4) 10 Super Eagles Midfielder, Ogenyi – (5) 12 L.G.A in Oyo State – (9) 15 Secretary To The Federal Government of Nigeria, Senator Pius – (5) 17 Ethnic Group in Nigeria – (5) 18 Senegalese Capital City – (5) 20 Former Nigerian Bar Association Chairman, Chief Rotimi – (9) 23 L.G.A in Benue State – (5) 26 L.G.A in Ebonyi State – (4) 27 Former NFF President, Sani Abdullahi – (4) 28 Entrap – (3) 29 Notion – (4)

30 Secretary to Benue State Government, Audu – (8) Down 1 Colombian Currency – (4) 2 L.G.A in Niger State – (4) 3 Edo State Governor, Adams – (9) 4 Former Bayelsa United coach, Karika – (5) 5 L.G.A in Edo State – (5) 6 German “Bundesliga” Premiership Club-Side – (8) 11 Reverend Sister – (3) 13 Borno State Capital – (9) 14 Dismiss – (4) 15 Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nuri – (8) 16 State in Nigeria known as “Pride of The Sahel”? – (4) 19 Inquire – (3) 21 Spain and Liverpool Goalkeeper, Jose – (5) 22 Greek Alphabet – (5) 24 NAFDAC Director-General, Mr. Paul – (4) 25 Traditional Ruler of Ife – (4)

SOLUTION on page 15

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